


All Alone

by saltybacon



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-05-02 11:37:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 29,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19197997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltybacon/pseuds/saltybacon
Summary: A/N- This is just a short start to a story I want to write. I haven't seen many Ballora/Reader, or Circus Baby/Reader. So I decided to start with Ballora because she is one of my favorite characters. I know, favoritism, but I might do another f/f if anybody wants it. I will update this chapter later on, and will be focusing on this fic rather than my Springtrap/Reader one. Sorry i'm just having trouble with that story right now. Thank you for reading!!!





	1. The Beginning

Lights. Beautiful flashing lights. A pang of cold metal that would soon be your own. A feeling of chrome threading through your spine. The sudden heat of a blowtorch, something you weren't sure how you knew.

Then, all the sensations you felt multiplied, a new sense. Piercing noises, sharp sounds that rattled your newly realized gears and metal limbs. A horrid cacophony of unknown.

Your sight restricted when you felt two shields of darkness enclose your eyes. You couldn't move, you soon realized that you never could. Soon you began to recognize the sound of voices, deep masculine voices, and some mono-tone feminine voice. They both had what you recognized to be an accent.

Soon you felt a sharp jab in the nape of your neck, a metal rod being lodged inside, and the strange poking of copper wires made you feel another new feeling. Fear. You didn't know what was happening, but first, the warm feeling of electricity running through your circuitry exhilarated your being and felt your memory card being filled with coding. Knowledge. 

Your mind automatically scanned the new files and strange coding that you didn't quite understand. However, your mind extracted everything and downloaded the files into your hard-drive.

You felt yourself being hefted upwards. You felt control in your limbs and twitched your slender fingers. Feeling the ballerina style nails, and clenching your fist, testing your grip and strength.

Clicking your sharp teeth together, you shifted your faceplates and reached your hand to feel your face. Sight had not returned to you, and you felt difficulty opening your eyelids. Muffled sounds of voices reached your ears again.

"-isn't she moving? Shouldn't she dance?" 

"Test her circuits. Make sure they are in place."

"What if she doesn't dance? We can't afford to-

"Shock her. That'll put the spring back in her step."

You felt fear radiate from your chest, but it was cold, and you felt in danger. You tried to reach deep inside yourself. You must dance, or they'll hurt you. You scanned your files and found a dance.

Stepping back into a curtsy, you stood up high, on your permanently on pointe toes. Lifting your hands into form, you began to spin, but your balance was off, and you fell. Tumbled down.

"Ugh.. She needs something to dance on. Maybe a track?"

"Mmmhm, yes, make the blueprints for that. I'll redesign her feet. Get it done before the grand opening day."

Conscience slowly faded when you felt yourself being lifted, carried off to a room that was cold and empty.

"You want us to get her out?"

"Yes. Get Cat to turn it on."

The voices faded away as you drifted in and out of reality. The last thing you heard was four loud sounds, and then a great force in your abdomen, you felt like your insides were being ripped out. You finally felt yourself falling to the ground, and then it was all black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- This is just a short start to a story I want to write. I haven't seen many Ballora/Reader, or Circus Baby/Reader. So I decided to start with Ballora because she is one of my favorite characters. I know, favoritism, but I might do another f/f if anybody wants it. I will update this chapter later on, and will be focusing on this fic rather than my Springtrap/Reader one. Sorry i'm just having trouble with that story right now. Thank you for reading!!!


	2. Surface

It had been two weeks since it closed down. A girl had gone missing the day they closed. Several animatronics were being used when security told everyone to leave, and the sound of several yelling voices and sirens blaring in the distance told enough of a story.

You had been there with your mother and younger sister, her birthday was the following week, but she couldn't wait to see the animatronics. Your sister usually behaved so your mother had complied to take her to the newly opened pizza place a little earlier.

When you had come to, they packed the large building with people, mostly children and some toddlers being carried or held by the hand of their parents. Your sister held the hand of your mother while you walked by her side and gazed at your surroundings as you neared closer to the entrance.

They greeted each guest with two red double doors held open by a man and a woman, both wearing purple tops and black pants, each with a patch displaying the Afton Entertainment logo and each of the animatronics in their trademark positions.

One looked like a fox, similar to Foxy from some previous locations you had heard about. Except this one was a bright pink and white and had its mouth open and looked to be waving to a figurative crowd.

Another was a bear with a similar color scheme, but instead of pink, it was lavender. It also had a small blue rabbit on its right hand and a microphone in the left. It had its microphone raised to its open mouth, presumably singing, and its puppet raised to the other side.

Off to the side was a ballerina who didn't seem to be in the likes of anyone you knew or could think of. She had a small smile with hot pink lipstick on her lips and four teeth on her bottom jaw; her rosy pink cheeks shimmering. One thing you found curious was that her eyes were closed, with purplish-blue eyeshadow and long, black eyelashes. You wondered if she was blind but then thought she could see some other way, and her closed eyes were just for show. Her blue hair remained slicked up into a tight bun, and her hair seemed to have been shaved on the sides. Two pearl tiaras rested on her head, one below her bun, while the other only had five small pearls right above her hairline. She had two gold earrings, and her ears stuck out slightly on the side of her head. From what you could see of the top of her body was a blue tank top or bra. You didn't really know what to call it but it showed a lot of 'skin'. A pinkish purple tutu with a white rim rested snuggly on her waist, it had some gold beads on the end of each ruffle.

In the middle was a girl with pigtails, this is who you assumed was Circus Baby because of the painted clown face and baby-like body shape. She had a microphone similar to the bear's, who you assumed was the new Freddy, but it was orange and red with a few other adornments. She had a red tank top with her sleeves jutted outwards. There was an orange fan-like device in her stomach, and a red skirt similar to the ballerinas, but doesn't fan out as much. She also had bright blue eyes and the same, permanent smile on her face, but much wider than the other ones.

You had realized you were staring at the patch on the woman's chest, but she didn't seem to notice. She had a smile on her face, but her eyes looked tired, you could tell she had been doing this for hours.

The place continued to swell with people, but it didn't take too long to get in line and get some tokens for your sister. Your mother had to set some ground rules before she let her go play. Mostly to stay where she could see her, and to not go too close to the animatronics. Your sister had happily agreed and ran off towards one of the party rooms. You couldn't see her very well, but your mother was keeping her eagle eye out for her.

You felt awkward in this place because you were much older than most people here and felt out of place in this childlike abode. You wanted to look around, this place made you feel nostalgic, and this feeling intrigued you.

"Ma can I go look around?" you asked your mother, who had her hand nervously close to her mouth. She glanced at you, then around for your sister again. She spotted her then opened her mouth to speak.

"Well you can, but.. just be careful, this place is very crowded. Don't get lost, and you heard me about those robots didn't you?" she said the last part sternly.

"Yes ma'am. I just want to look around this place if we paid to be here." you said politely.

She nodded and waved you off, already entirely focused on watching your sister play various arcade games. You nodded back, mostly to yourself, and walked off in the nearest direction from the main room you were just in.

You moved to the right first. You saw a crowd of children surrounding a purple curtain with stars; they were all talking, and playing with toys and various prizes that they've won. There was a sign that stated; Showtime 2 PM

The children were being monitored by a few employees, all with the same purple shirt and logo patch on their chest. You noticed that the purple curtain was part of a stage, that's where you guessed the animatronic was. You saw a few posters scattered about, some with the fox, and some with the bear. There were also a few children's drawings.

You looked over to the right again, seeing a second stage. It had the same purple curtain, and a sign that said; Showtime 4 PM

You saw more kids around this stage. Not as many as the first stage, but you suspected it to be because the first stage had a show sooner. There was a large play area in the center. Several scattered tokens and broken pieces of toys. You leaned down and picked up a few tokens, not wanting to ask your mom to buy you any.

Spotting several rows of arcade machines, although many stayed occupied, you found an empty one and slid a token in. This game was called 'BON-BON'S BLAST', and it pictured a blue rabbit launching fireworks at balloons, each pop would give points depending on the color. The game was okay, and it passed some time, but you didn't want the tickets anyway, so you gave them to a small girl who seemed like the cat that caught the canary. She refused them and ran out of the room, and into the room your sister had gone into. She was a cute little girl; she had green eyes, a pink shirt, and a navy blue skirt. She was wearing some black dress shoes with some high white socks. You smiled thinking of her little smile.

You dropped the tickets she refused next to the machine you won them from, and left the room, entering the room opposite to the one you had just left.

This one was much quieter than the other. It was also darker and calmer. Much calmer actually and had a soft music box playing. Except it wasn't playing from speakers, it sounded like it was following something as it moved, and you soon realized that there wasn't anybody in this room. There were a few posters on the walls, but they were in more of an order and not just scattered everywhere. There was also only one or two children's drawings that were dedicated to the room, and it didn't seem like many people came in here. There was a checkered dance floor that took up most of the area of the room except for a thin perimeter of shiny tile. It barely looked worn at all, but you assumed that this was a dance-based room, so that just made you even more confused.

'This place did just open, however, so I suppose it would make sense' you thought to yourself as you glanced around the room.

You felt the hair on your neck stand on end as you realized the sound of the music box was getting louder. Not that it was too loud in the first place.

The room was dimly lit, so it was difficult to tell what was in the room with you. However, after a moment heard the tip-tapping of small footsteps. You spun your head around to see a glint of a shadow that retreated out of your line of vision. Your unease came out more and more but chose not to leave.

A tiny giggle interrupted your thoughts, and you turned to see two.. three little mannequins. They had small smiling heads and had beige-colored tutus and ballet leotards. They posed in front of you as you looked at them, and each stood on pointe and began to spin, then one did a croise devant while the two on either side stood in fifth position.

It was amazing! Each of the little dancers then tip toed around you and spun off deeper into the room. You began to follow them, then as you did so, one stopped and spun, then looked at you expectantly. You took a step back, surprised that the little robot was so aware. You copied its movements and caught on quickly, remembering your past dance classes.

One of them gave a giggle as you slightly mis-stepped, but you didn't quite notice when you heard a voice. Whoever it was, they were singing along to the music. But the song was sad, slow, and made you feel a deep spark in your chest. This person, whoever they were, seemed sad, and you felt obligated to cheer whoever it may be. As it is in your nature. You had always been that one person to heal any other living thing's pain, despite the possibility of it being out of your hands.

The dancers had stopped dancing in reaction to the woman's voice. They each quickly danced off toward that voice.

"W-wait!" you called after them. Then the singing stopped, but the music continued. You slowly walked forward and then heard a deep voice call out.

"Is someone there? Is it time for the show?" It was the same voice.

" Are.. you an animatronic?" you asked, regretting the words as they left your mouth.

"Are you here to dance?" she asked in return. You heard the music box get a little louder and heard the tiny footsteps again.

"I will dance.. but I haven't in a long time." you said, feeling strange talking to something that felt so... sentient. You thought this was a person at first but now you weren't so sure.

"Don't be shy." she said, and you heard the music box grow even closer, so you followed where you believed it was coming from, and felt something cold brush against your shoulder. You flinched but didn't move.

Then your eyes focused on what was in front of you and finally adjusted to the dim light that was being reflected off her chrome faceplates.

It was the ballerina, her tall, slender structure standing over you, and her smiling face 'gazed' down at you. Almost as if she could see you, but not quite. She reached out with her hand, and touched your shoulder, slightly gripping you. You looked down at her hand, her polished nails glinting off the light.

"You seem young. Small. Tell me, why did you come here?" she asked, her hand moving away from you and down into first position.

"My... My sister is here for her birthday. But I had nowhere to go, so I came to a l-less crowded area." you said, although that wasn't necessarily true.

"Hmm. I see you enjoy the quiet." she said as she slightly danced around while speaking, as if it helps her think.. or that it's just in her programming.

You nodded, but then said 'yes' when you realized she couldn't see you nodding. You looked down, seeing the tiny dancers, and they giggled when they saw you. Then scurried behind the ballerina's leg. You now noticed there were four of them, and she ceased dancing when they were behind her.

"Ah girls.." she said as if they were like her children. She reached her arm down, and two climbed on while the others stayed on the ground.

"Oh, where are my manners? These are my students, the minireenas. My name is Ballora." she said, outstretching her arm to show the two hanging down, and then leaning into an arabesque.

You smiled at her friendliness and curtsied to her.

"I'm Y/N." You said, introducing yourself while trying to make a good impression. She chuckled and reached out once again, this time touching your face.

"Hm. You have a kind face. Forgive me having to feel in order to see you." she said retracting her hand and touching the nape of her neck. You furrowed your brow and wondered about her. 'Ballora' was her name.

You just watched her for a moment, but then heard a scream. Then children's laughter.. Then silence. Ballora visibly shuddered, then her faceplates shifted.

"Oh, no."


	3. Lithosphere

You had broken out of the flashback and shivered. Something made you reminisce back to that time, and you didn't know what, but it had interrupted your activities.

For the past few months, your mother had been pressuring you to start getting to know some 'guy friends', but you insisted that you hadn't met the right guy yet. So, in order to appease your mother you had gotten a blind dating app. It was in the likes of Tinder, but just limited data being exposed to the public. This also meant that there were high probabilities of getting creeps or perverts matched to you.

There was something else that had been on your mind for quite a few months now. You weren't sure if what you were starting to feel was real or not, but you were beginning to think that you aren't interested in men. You had always gotten along with guy friends better then gal friends, and began to feel stranger and stranger around girls your age. You knew it wasn't just drama, because some of the girls who you felt strange around were your friends. Friends whom you have known forever.

This, as anyone could imagine, made things become very awkward between you and your friends. 

Your mother had also been pressuring you to get a job. She refused to pay your phone bills if you didn't get one soon, so you also had been job hunting in addition to searching for a boyfriend. You had already met a few complete weirdos on certain blind dates. 

However, you had found a promising job opportunity. You had seen an ad in one of your hairpins listing a phone number and the job that whomever was offering. You had asked your mother about this place, and she was only half listening until you mentioned the name Circus Baby's. You remember her eyes clicking on you, and her snapping up, grabbing the ad and reading it.

She mumbled as she read it, and then turned to you.

"Y/N, do you recognize this place?" she asked, sternly.

"No.. Not the name but... That robot on the front looks familiar. You really want me to get a job though and this is a good chance." you responded, really just trying to see why your mom was so worried. The last time you had been to that pizzeria was on it's opening day, but you don't remember much about the day except the ballerina... Ballora you think her name was. That was years ago however, and you don't expect technology to be advanced enough to 'remember' you.

"I know Y/N but.." she said, sighing through her nose, "something had happened all those years ago. I just don't think that it would be a good idea." she said, combing through her hair with her fingers.

"Listen, can I just give it a shot? If the job doesn't feel right then i'll quit, but I don't want to pass this job up." you said, just wanting your mother to let one thing go. You didn't even know what had happened all those years ago. All you remember is being with Ballora, and the next thing you know your mother had pulled you out of the room, and you were driving away from that place. You had never gone back after that day.

Your mother sighed again, and rubbed her temples.

"Fine. Go to the.. interview or tour of the place or whatever it is. Just keep your phone with you and call me if something happens." she said worriedly.

You furrowed your brow, and grabbed your phone, putting it in your pocket.

"I'll be fine ma. I don't understand why you're so worried about this place, but I'll be okay." you said, still wondering if your mom wasn't telling you something.

She just nodded, as if she had to mentally assure herself that you would be okay. You checked the ad, and walked to the house phone so you could call the number. 

You typed each number in, each press of the button causing a beeping sound to emit. The voice to answer was a monotone, clear sounding voice.

"Thank you for reading our ad, and responding promptly! If you are wanting to request a job tour, please press one. If you want to request an animatronic for an event, please press 2. If you want to file a missing persons report that you believe is in relation to our establishment, please press 3. However, please note that repeated calls or suspicious numbers will be ignored. Thank you for calling Circus Baby's Rentals. This automated message will repeat-" *beep* "-If you are here to request a job, please fill out the online job application at our website, and we will contact you when we look over your information. Visit us at www.circusbaby'srentals.com, and fill out the form. Thank you for wanting to help serve at Baby's! This automated message will repeat if no action-" *click* You hung up the phone, looking at the ad again.

"Mom, i'm gonna go to the library to use the computers. Can I have some change to use them?" you asked, turning to face her.

"Yea, there's some on the counter. Be back in an hour at most." she said, pointing at you. 

Leaving with an 'okay', you headed off to the library. It wasn't too far so you just walked.

~~~~~~~

It had taken you around fifteen minutes to reach the library, but you didn't mind, as it gave you plenty of time to think. And in the time it took you to get there, a notification from your dating app made you stop to take your phone out.

The notification read; 'You have been matched with: 1 new stranger!'. No further information was given as always. You'd have to go into the app to see the persons name, and a few traits. You didn't want to stop now, so you saved the notification, and kept moving.

You had arrived to an average sized building, with about four, maybe six columns. The tall white cylinders held the glint of the sun, hurting you eyes. Climbing the few stairs there were, you pushed open the old, dark wooden doors, and walked up to the old man sitting at the even older wooden front desk. He was typing on a fossil of a computer, chewing something quietly. You politely tap on the desk, trying to not startle him. He didn't seem to respond until he stopped typing and clicked something on his mouse softly. He then adjusted his rounded glasses, and looked up to you.

Looking at you as if he couldn't see you properly, he squinted, then opened his mouth.

"Can I help you young lady?" he asked in a soft voice, almost a whisper. 

"Could I use the computers please sir?" you asked in the same volume. He looked over at the desks with the computers, seeing no one there. He squinted again, then looked back up to you.

"Of course young lady, it's a fifty cents an hour." he said, pulling out a piece of paper, and asking you to sign your name and hours on the computer. You gave him a dollar for the hour you'd be there. He didn't seem to notice, but you felt bad that it looked like this man had worked here his whole life, and hasn't had more than ten people come inside for twenty years.

Walking off to the computers, you sat down at one of the cushioned wooden chairs. Powering the computer on, you remembered the notification. Sighing and hoping it was someone decent, you logged on to see a girl. Surprised, but pleased, you looked at her information. Her name was Beatrice, and was 'addicted to her bed but was filing for divorce", and was looking for love. You chuckled, and clicked the little heart. It then simply read, 'pending', so you put your phone in your pocket.

The old computer wheezed mechanically as you pulled up the internet browser. You typed in the required website, and were pulled up to a brightly colored page. It's large and colorful contents took a moment to load, but the first thing you saw was the four animatronics on the front page.

Up in the top right corner of the web page, a link called 'Job Application' attracted your mouse. Clicking the link brought you to a long job application, and you sighed in exasperation, readying yourself for a good bit of reading.

Apart from the position you requested, which was unfortunately a technician, most of it had just been general work application required information. Except for one signature you had to sign, making them hereby not responsible in case of you going missing, dying or being injured on the job, or any trauma that may be inflicted upon you.

You thought for a moment, paranoia taking hold of you. Your hand frozen over the mouse, you tried to rationalize, not wanting to think that this job would be your deathbed. Blinking yourself back into reality, you clicked the checkbox, along with the 'agree to terms' box at the end.

Submitting the form, a small text box popped up, thanking you, and reading that they will call you when your application has been looked over and validated.

Sighing in relief, you checked the time, seeing that it had been about thirty-five minutes. You rubbed your temples, sitting there for a moment before shutting down the computer.

Suddenly the thought of an actual chance of meeting someone who you could potentially really like made you blush a light rose color. But oh god, what would your mother say if she found out... 

I just.. can't let her know it's a girl. She would be fine if it's a guy..! 

Thinking about all of this as you walked out of the building excited you but also made you a bit nervous.

Taking a deep breath and sighing as your breath left your lungs, you smiled.

Today's been a good day.. just a day that can lead to a lot of change.


	4. Love?

It had only been a few days since you had requested the position at Circus Baby's when you received a call.

You were astonished when the same man from the previous call congratulated you on securing the job. Pleasantly surprised, you were told that your uniform would be given to you by mail.

On another note, you have been chatting back and forth with Beatrice ever since she too had clicked the heart button. This had now indicated a 'true match', and you could now message with her.

She had told you a lot about herself, which had sort of contradicted the point of a blind date. In order to avoid the trouble of the app constantly reminding you to not tell too much, the both of you simply exchanged phone numbers.

Your mother still had no idea, and your job started today. Things were looking up, much more so than they had in a while. However, at the same time your anxiety welled up inside you when things were going just a little too perfect.

You blinked, snapping yourself out of your own thoughts. 

Thinking about your new job, you remembered how you unfortunately snagged a night shift job. It was the only option you had, so you were forced to agree, and thought that it might be good to try a different sleep schedule. Thinking that it might pay off in the future if you end up being stuck with a late night job.

It was only about nine o'clock at night, and your shift started at midnight, so you stood up from your couch you laid on. Walking into the kitchen, you heated up some Eggo pancakes in the microwave. It was probably the main thing in your diet for dinner.

As you ate the warm, buttery dish, a text came in from Beatrice. Smiling as you snatched your phone, opening the messaging app.

Her message read a simple; 'Heyyy'.

You smiled a bit wider and your cheeks reddened. Sliding your thumbs down to the keyboard, you typed out your message in response.

'Hey :P wyd?' adding the emoji for comical relief if it was needed.

'I'm laying in bed waiting for my parents to come home from a date night'

'My parents aren't home either, but i'm just eating my late dinner lol'

She didn't respond for a moment, but sent a text after about two or three minutes of you waiting while finishing you pancakes.

'I know we've only just met each other, but we did match on that blind dating app so I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out sometime?'

Your cheeks brightened even more, and now it was your turn to wait to respond.

Ohhhh my God I just got asked out..! What do I do? What to I say..?! This is a dating app but god I wasn't expecting this ohh God!

Your thumb twitched impatiently, wanting to respond to her. You slowly allowed your thumbs to type out the words.

'Oh my God, I would love to Beatrice!' you responded, not quite sure how to convey your feelings.

'Where do you want to go? We could just do a classic movie run? :)' 

Thinking briefly, you didn't want her to come to your house because of your mother.. so you just settled on a movie. 

'I think going to the movies would be fun, we can go to the one downtown if that's good?'

'Yes :D I love that theatre, it's sooo beautiful!'

'I know but i've only been there like three times so it'll be good to go there with you :)'

';P what day do you think you could go? I'm guessing we could go around 4:00pm?'

'Can you do tomorrow?'

'I think so.. but i'll let you know k?'

You smiled bashfully, and responded quickly.

'Okay. Can't wait ;p'

':)))'

She then went offline, and you let out a breath. Setting your phone on the kitchen counter and plugging it into the charger. It buzzed comfortingly, notifying you that it was now charging silently.

You thought back to the rentals website, and remembered something that you didn't quite register in your mind last time. 

Circus Baby.. her eyes were green... weren't they blue the last you saw her..? Maybe you were confusing her with that adorable girl you had tried to give your tickets to. Her eyes were blue- wait no- green... 

Something seems.. Different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- I know this chapter was short but I enjoyed writing it and I feel that it was a crucial part of the story details. I try to get in these small details that will help really flesh out the story. Thaaaank you for reading!!


	5. Asthenosphere

The night had labored away into twilight, and your shift had begun.

The drive to your new workplace was only about ten minutes, but the building stood in the middle of no where. It made you slightly uneasy, but the thought didn't last long.

The building was quite short, and was weathered on the outside. A big white and red sign displaying the four signature animatronics and the words, 'Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rentals'.

The building was also relatively small, and you wondered what exactly would need repairing in such a small facility. 

Your work outfit was very similar to the ones you had seen the employees where at the pizzeria all those years ago. The same patch on your chest and a similar color scheme. You were equipped with a belt that held a few devices; a flashlight, a screwdriver, a wrench, and a flash beacon.

The doors to the small building had no glass, and no windows that you could see through were visible. Walking up to the cracked brick building, you grabbed the door knob, it was apparently unlocked as there was no resistance on it. 

A stagnant breeze of air whisked through your hair, and whispered through your ears. The brisk air sounded like faint whispers, and sent chills up your spine.

The room you entered was simple. The most prominent feature was an elevator with a numbered keypad next to it. Inside your work attire package was a note that had gone ahead in telling you the passcode for the lift, and that your copy of the keys were in there.

Typing the four digit code, the metal elevator opened quickly, revealing a brightly lit small room. Pipes and various buttons on control pads decorated the space around you as you stepped into the cold lift.

A fan above you was waving down on you as a masculine voice sounded over a speaker near the door.

"Welcome to the first day of your exciting new career! Whether you were approached at a job fair, read our ads in screws, bolts, and hairpins, or if this is the result of a dare, we welcome you."

You snickered at that last statement, but kept listening.

"I will be your personal guide to help you get started. I'm a model 5 of the HandyMan's Robotics and Unit-Repair System, but you can call me 'Hand Unit'. Your new career promises challenge, intrigue, and endless janitorial opportunities."

Before you could think about what he just said, a dull yellow keypad swung towards you from it's resting position against the right wall of the elevator.

"Please enter your name as you submitted it on your job application. This cannot be changed later so please be careful."

The green letters spastically twitched in and out of place, making it difficult to type your name. You mistyped several times, but each press of the delete key added another character. You stopped you attempts in frustration and let the keypad retreat back to the wall.

"It seems you had some trouble with the keypad. I see what you were trying to type, and will autocorrect it for you. One moment... Welcome;

Powdered Quiche."

Well.. that's a bit broken.

Hand Unit stayed silent until the elevator reached a stop after several minutes of descending into the earth.

"You can now open the elevator using that bright, red, and obvious button. Let's get to work!"

Stepping up to the glowing button, once pressed, the inter joining double doors snapped open. It revealed a vent down on the floor with police tape strewn about. Some even looked like it had been torn down.

You awaited instructions, but after several minutes of no further information, you assumed tht you were supposed to crawl through the vents, 

Well this is quite inconvenient. Did they run out of funds for this place? 

Crouching down, you palmed the brittle metal, jumping when his mono-tone voice boomed out of the speakers.

"Allow me to fill this somewhat frightening silence into some light-hearted banter. Due to the massive success, and even more so the unfortunate closing of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, it was clear that the stage was set, no pun intended, for another contender in children's entertainment. Unlike most entertainment venues, our robotic entertainers are rented out for private parties during the day, and it's your job to get the robots back in proper working order before the following morning." 

Sighing as you quietly crawled through the vents, you finally came to, and into a room a bit bigger than the elevator. Hand Unit's enthusiastic voice reached your ears once again before you could process anything you had seen.

"You are now in the Primary Control Module. It's actually a crawlspace between the two front showrooms. Now, let's get started with your daily tasks. View the window to your left. This is the Ballora gallery party room and dance studio. Encouraging kids to get fit, and enjoy pizza. Let's turn on the light and see if Ballora is on stage. Press the blue button on the elevated keypad to your left."

Ballora.. that name definitely rang a bell. She was the one you saw your first time at Circus Baby's. The ballerina and her little dancers.

Pressing your hand against the glowing blue button, a dim white light flashed on a stage through the window. Squinting your eyes through the blurry glass, your eyes confirmed that you saw nothing.

"Uh oh. It looks like Ballora doesn't feel like dancing. Let's give her some motivation! Press the red button now to administer a controlled shock. Maybe that will put the spring back in her step."

You froze.. why... why does a robot need motivation? Shouldn't you just be able to turn her on..?

You had stayed paralyzed in place, refusing to move your hand to shock her. You felt as if it was cruel.. even if they couldn't or could feel anything, it still wasn't right. You grimaced, your stomach twisting.

"Ballora is disobeying. You need to shock her." Hand Unit pressed.

You retracted your hands to your face, as if to make sure they stayed away from that button.

"Shock her."

Feeling immensely pressured, you hesitantly pressed the button. It emitted a high voltage shock, sounding the opposite of 'controlled'. You shuddered, feeling guilty above anything else.

"Let's check the light again."

Clicking the light, you were met with the scene of the ballerina herself spinning gracefully while her minireenas posed around her. 

Wincing, you rubbed the back of your neck.

"Excellent. Ballora is feeling like her old self again, and will be ready to perform again tomorrow. Now, view the window to your right. This is Funtime Auditorium, where Funtime Foxy ecourages kids to play, and share. Try the light, let's see what Funtime Foxy is up to."

Sighing, you pressed the button. A similar beam of white light beamed down on an identical stage. Nothing was there again, and you groaned with the thought of having to shock another robot.

"Looks like Funtime Foxy is taking the day off. Let's motivate Funtime Foxy with a controlled shock."

Breathing through clenched teeth, you once again pressed the red, square button. Sending another painful sounding pulse of electricity to illuminate the room.

Switching on the light, your stomach dropped when nothing was there again. Your eyes widening as you looked around on the other side of the window. It was absolutely empty apart from the stage.

"Let's try another controlled shock."

Your hand shook slightly, having trouble as you rose your hand to the shock button. Another piercing shock, your eyes narrowing with guilt.

Turning on the light, you saw the pink and white fox on stage, swishing it's tail and waving to no body. You released your breath in relief that Foxy returned to the stage, not even realizing that you had been holding it.

"Looks like Funtime Foxy is in perfect working order, great job! In front of you is another vent shaft. Crawl through it to reach the Circus Gallery Control Module."

Your chest felt extremely heavy, but you descended to your hands and knees despite your shame. 

After not too long, you reached the small control module. It was much different than the previous one; it had four colored lights above the glass window that led out to the gallery, and several technical pads. It also had two slightly creepy doll-like figures; one that was very round and had a magicians attire, while the other was hanging from the ceiling, and has a striped hat and shirt.

"On the other side of the glass is Circus Baby's Auditorium. Let's check the light, and see what Baby is up to."

Walking forward, you pressed the button, only lighting up a few lights, showing no stage. 

"Looks like a few of the lights are out, but we can fix that later. Let's encourage Baby to cheer up with a controlled shock."

This doesn't seem so motivational.

Pressing the shock panel, more shocks. This one didn't work either, nor did the next shock. Becoming panicky, you pressed the light, and still didn't see anything, you were prepared to press it again. Hand Unit interrupted you in the act.

"Great job Circus Baby. We knew we could count on you! That concludes your duties for your first night on the job. We don't want you to leave overwhelmed, otherwise, you might not come back. Please leave using the vent behind you, and we'll see you again tomorrow."

Glancing at the vent over your shoulder made you nervous. Kneeling down, you began to crawl back. The moment you entered the vent, a loud bang below you struck the metal corridor.

Freezing, it was silent. Moving again only made another bang echo out. Crawling faster until you reached the Primary Control Module, you stood up quickly only to check your surroundings before diving into the vent again.

No more strikes against the metal sounded out, and you made it back into the vent. Back into the elevator. And back into your car, on your way home in no time.


	6. The Date

The moment you had arrived at your home, you had ran up the stairs two steps at a time, and plunged your head inside your pillow. The soft fabric caressed your face comfortably, and you fell asleep quickly.

_________________________________________

You opened your eyes to see you weren't inside your room, and not even anywhere in your home. Everything was very dark; you spun your head around in different directions before seeing something. 

It was a tall and large robot. Red pigtails, a red top, and a red skirt. She wore red jester shoes with gold bells on the tips and held a red and orange microphone. Her face was split into several plates, and her nose was painted red as well as her lips. She stared off into the distance as you were to the side of her.

You looked down at yourself and realized that you weren't even there. Your focus on your nonexistent body switched when a voice boomed out.

"There's no doubting what you've achieved on a technical level. These are clearly state-of-the art. There are just certain.. design choices.. that were made for these robots that we don't fully understand. We were hoping you could shed some light on those."

"She can dance, she can sing. She's equipped with a built in helium tank for inflating balloons right at her fingertips. She can take song requests. She can even dispense ice cream."

"With all due respect, those aren't the design choices we were curious about Mr. Afton."

_________________________________________

You sat up, gasping as you broke out of the dream. You felt the hair on the back of your neck stand on end as you looked around, trying to make sure you were really awake.

Holding your hand to your chest, you grabbed your phone and checked the time. It was 4:33pm, and you had bout two hours before your date with Beatrice. She had texted you that she was available at around six, and you both agreed on that time. 

The theatre downtown was about fifteen minutes away, so you thought that you'd leave around 5:50 to pick her up at her house, and then head to the theatre, where the movie started at 6:30.

You rubbed your eyes and decided to go and take a shower. You were too exhausted to take a shower earlier in the day and wanted to be clean for tonight.

Taking about a ten-minute shower, you towel dried your hair and chose an outfit for later. You chose something simple; an ornate dress that went just above your knees, and a small necklace that was quite important to you. You suspected that your mother would insist you wore some makeup, so you went ahead and put on some light mascara and lip gloss.

Inspecting yourself in the mirror, you left the sanctuary of your room and headed downstairs. Your mother was sitting in front of our home computer doing taxes, and you walked up to her, tapping her shoulder. She continued finishing whatever she was doing before turning in her chair to look at you.

You had told her that you had a blind date tonight, so she already knew what was going on. Once she turned, her eyes lit up, and she smiled.

"Oh, honey, you look beautiful. When are you going out?" she asked, turning back to her screen.

"I'll be going to pick her- uh him! I'm going to go pick him up at 5:50." you smiled, trying to hide the nervousness in your voice. She narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.

"Well, do you want anything to eat before you go?" she asked, typing on a calculator that sat next to her.

"No, I think we'll get something beforehand." you said, rubbing the back of your neck. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I have ten dollars in my purse, bring it in case he doesn't bring any. Bring me back any of the change." she said, still in complete focus on her work. You thanked her, then walked in the kitchen where her purse lay on the counter. Grabbing the slightly torn bill, you checked the time again. It was now 5:43, and you groaned in anticipation. You were excited but also very nervous; you really were only nervous by the unknown factor of it all.

After a few minutes, you were in your car and ready to leave. You looked at yourself in the mirror in your car and backed out of the driveway.

_________________________________________

Arriving at her house in about five minutes, you pulled up to her driveway. She was waiting outside, her fair skin reflected the moonlight as her ginger hair wrapped around her slim shoulders. You just realized how you had been talking to someone that you hadn't seen yet, but that had made no difference.

She noticed your car pull up to her house, and she waved nervously. You waved back shyly, and put the car in park, the vehicle coming to rest on the asphalt.

You exited the car and slowly walked up to her, rubbing your arm anxiously. You took a moment to look at her as she tucked her wild red hair behind her right ear. She wore a long, elegant turquoise dress that had some very ornate but foreign filigree. She wore a little makeup, and you noticed that she had a myriad of freckles on her face and body.

You blushed lightly, and she did the same.

"Y-you look beautiful Beatrice." you commented shyly, and she laughed with the same tone in mind.

"Thank you Y/N." she said, and you detected a hint of an accent. Shocked but not unpleasantly so, you spoke again.

"Are you ready to go? I brought money in case you didn't?" you said, gesturing to your car. She thought for a minute then spoke again.

"I'm ready. And I brought some extra in case something were to happen." she said, smiling sweetly. You smiled back, and led her to the car.

_________________________________________

After the movie was over, you were already tired, and were dreading the upcoming six hours of work at twelve. 

Beatrice's presence helped, however. Even though not much happened tonight, it was only the first date after all. You had both enjoyed yourself and you had both told each other about yourselves.

She had told you that she was Scottish, and had moved to the United States from Melrose, Scotland. 

After you had dropped her off, you headed home, slightly loopy in the head. You hadn't enjoyed a night out with another person in quite some time. You found yourself on your way home smiling.

Once home, you first took off the little makeup you had put on then went to wash your face. 

When you were finally settled on your appearance, you pulled the dress off and slipped on your work clothes. The movie was already adequately long in itself, so you only had about thirty minutes to prep yourself for work.

The minutes dragged by unbearably slowly, but once it was about 11:30, it was time to go, as the facility was very far from you.

You sighed in fatigue and left your front door, entering your car once again.


	7. Mesosphere

Work felt so much further than it had yesterday.

When you had finally arrived after what dragged on and on, you took the elevator down. Handunit promptly greeted you.

"Welcome back for another night of intellectual stimulation, pivotal career choices and self-reflection on past mistakes. We're committed to creating a unique and fulfilling work experience. One part of that commitment is ensure that you don't get tired of the voice that you're hearing right now."

The dull yellow keypad swung over once again, presenting you with its malfunctioning letters.

"Using the keypad below, please select anew companion voice. For male, press one. For female, press two. For text only, press 3. For other options, press 4."

You were content with Handunit's voice, and there were no numbers to press in the first place, so you pressed a random letter and hoped for the best.

"It seems you had some trouble with the keypad. I see what you were trying to type, and will autocorrect it for you. Thank you for selecting; Angsty Teen."

You mentally facepalmed, and waited as the elevator slowed to a stop. It clunked as it hit it's stop, and the red button glowed brighter as the lights dimmed.

"The elevator's stopped. You know the routine. Get out now, or.. whatever. Stay here if you want."

You laughed a little at the strange voice that would now be here talking you through everything.

As you crawled on hand and foot through the vent, the voice spoke up once again.

"So, funny story; a dead body was found in this vent once.. Okay, so, not that funny but, it's a story."

A feeling of slight fear overcame you. No one ver told you about any incidents in work property. Melting the ice that froze you mind on that one thought, you kept crawling.

Pulling yourself out of the vent slowly, you stood, prepared to listen to your instructions for tonight.

"Okay, let's start with your nightly chores. You should check on Ballora and make sure she's on her stage, but, whatever."

The otherwise lively voice of HandUnit was now so sluggish and uncaring. It almost made you feel even more tired than you already were.

Exhaling slowly, you pressed the button. Strangely, nothing was there apart from the shadow of Ballora, she looked quite close to the window but you couldn't see her no matter how much you reeled around the window.

"Huh. Looks like Ballora has better things to do. Lets zap her. That should be fun."

You cringed at his interest in others pain, and winced when you pressed the button to shock the ballerina.

The moment after you shocked, it was silent. A strange sound began to be emitted from the speakers. It was an odd and airy mess of noises that garbled out of the speaker. Your insides twisted as you listened to the disturbing noise. 

It stopped, and your ears perked for any more noises.

"Let's check on Funtime Foxy. Make sure he's ready for showtime tomorrow."

You wanted to check on Ballora again, but the buttons had almost locked themselves. Since you were given no other options, you clicked the light to Foxy's auditorium, and saw his shadow.

There was silence once again.

"Great. Great. Great.-"

The voice was deep and unfamiliar to you. This frightened you mildly, and you once again listened for any instructions.

"There seems to have been a problem with the voice synthesizer. Default settings have been restored. Please proceed through the vent ahead of you to Circus Baby's auditorium."

You breathed in relief of the familiarity of HandUnit's voice. It was one of the more comforting things in this place. You were unsure whether or not to worry about the strange sounds you had heard.

Once through the vents, you stood up in the flashing room. The lights momentarily blinding you.

"Circus Baby had a busy day today! Let's check the lights, and make sure she's in proper working order!"

No one was there when the light shown through.. and the lights still weren't fixed.

"Oh Circus Baby! We aren't here to play hide and seek. Let's encourage Baby to come out of hiding with a controlled shock."

This still didn't feel like the right thing to do. Why did you have to do this manually anyway?

Hesitantly, you clicked the shock button, but nothing came from it apart from a sad electrical sound. Almost like the wires that were hooked up to Baby were being cut short.

"Let's try another controlled shock."

Confused, you pressed it again. The same sound came out, leading to even more confusion and slight fear on your part.

There was a slight pause before he spoke again.

"There seems to be a power malfunction that is affecting our ability to properly motivate Baby. Please stand by, while I reboot the system. I will be offline momentarily during this process. Various other systems may be offline as well, such as security doors, vent locks and oxygen. Commencing system restart."

A winding sound came from all around you. Your eyes widened in the sudden darkness, and tried to process the chunk of information that you were just given. The oxygen part that HandUnit had just mentioned made you nervous, but you had no choice but to wait. There was no one else in this building, and you were deep underground as it is.

There was almost a straight minute of silence before it was broken by a voice.

"Motion trigger; Entryway Vent."

What..

"Funtime Auditorium maintenance vent open."

"W-wait, what..?" you panicked. The vent locks were offline, also were the security doors.

"Ballora Gallery maintenance vent open."

You spun around, covering your mouth as you heard the sounds of the vents opening and closing freely. You had no where to go, and these animatronics were out. 

Are they going to hurt me? I was just doing what I was told, I didn't want to..! 

The sound of metal against metal in the distance, what were you going to do? Your racing mind was interrupted by a quiet, feminine voice.

"I don't recognize you. You are new. I remember this scenario.. However... It's a strange thing to do, to come here. I'm curious what events would lead a person to want to spend your nights, in a place like this. Willingly. Maybe curiosity.. maybe ignorance." she continued.

"You didn't want to hurt Ballora.. I know that you had to. There is a space under the desk. Someone before you crafted it into a hiding place, and it worked for him. I recommend that you hurry though. You will be safe there.. just try not to make eye contact. It will be over soon, they will lose interest."

You shot your glance down to the desk, seeing a tight space underneath. Hearing the approaching steps of an unknown number of animatronics, and even just which animatronic it was.

Crouching quietly, you crawled inside the small slot. You saw a cover with visible holes inside, and on the side was a small handle to pull. You slid it over your now compressed body, peeking through the several holes. 

Hearing the bangs in the vents grow louder, and eventually heard the vent cover open with a metal squeak. A light and quiet voice sounded out. It was too quiet to hear completely, but a 'hello' was heard.

You covered your mouth in fear, freezing as your eyes darted back and forth through each hole. Remembering what the voice had said, you focused your eyes on your hands, afraid of what might happen if you see their eyes.

"Someone is inside." 

The voice was almost a whisper, and it seemed like there were two animatronics with you. Another higher pitched but similar voice responded.

"Is it the same person?"

You itched to talk back and explain yourself but suspected that your habit of avoiding conflict and talking your way out wouldn't work this time.

A sharp rat tat tat sound pierced your eardrums momentarily. The acute sound made you raise a hand to your ear, plugging it briefly as one of you e/c optics wandered around. You closed it quickly when a light blue eye appeared in the hole, it spotted you covering your ear, dashing over your face.

The sounds stopped, and you exhaled silently.

"Knock knock."

You jolted when the thin metal grate began to be pulled open.

No!

You gripped the rough surface, struggling to hold it in place. The animatronic or animatronics slowly let go and let you pull the cover back over you.

"We always find a way inside."

The shield began to open again, and you grabbed it tightly. The robots were definitely trying harder this time, and you had trouble keeping your only protection over you. It was almost halfway open when they finally stopped. Hearing them jerking away from the metal as you pulled it close once again.

"She's watching us..! We have to leave now!"

You mentally sighed in relief.

"We'll see you again soon!"

Their movements slowly faded away, but you didn't dare to move. You sat there on the cold, hard floor for a good three minutes before that soft voice sounded again.

"When your guide comes back online, he is going to tell you that he was unsuccessful; that you must restart the system manually. He will then tell you to crawl through Ballora Gallery as fast as you can to reach the breaker room. If you follow his instructions, you will die. Ballora will not return to her stage anymore. She will catch you." 

Your blood ran cold at her words... You can understand why Ballora would be angry, but you didn't want to hurt her..

"The power will be restored shortly. When you crawl through Ballora Gallery, go slowly. She cannot see you, and can only listen for your movements. When you hear her music become louder, she is growing near.. listening for you. Wait and be still-"

She was interrupted by HandUnit's calm, mono-tone voice.

"Thank you for your patience. It seems that the power cannot be restarted automatically. You will have to restart the system manually. Please return to the primary control module."

Creeping out of the spot slowly and silently, you looked at Circus Baby's window. Smiling sadly, you grimaced.

"I'm sorry.. I shouldn't have come here just to torture you." you apologized, knowing that no one would respond, you still felt as if you were forgiven just a little bit.


	8. The Breaker

The control module still had lights, but you suspected they were emergency lights because it was the main control module.

"You will now be required to crawl through the Ballora Gallery using the vent to your left to reach the breaker room. It is recommended that you stay low to the ground and reach the other side as fast as possible as to not disturb Ballora. I will deactivate myself momentarily, as to not create an auditory disturbance. Deactivating."

The room went silent apart from the vents. Kneeling down to the vent, it snapped open revealing a dark pit. Grabbing the flashlight off your belt, you got down on your hands and knees, with the flashlight in your mouth. The bitter plastic didn't bother you too much as the vent closed behind you.

It was awfully silent, and your ears strained for sound. You moved forward silently as your eyes adjusted. Stopping as you saw a metal door illuminated by a blueish light, you saw a poster with an animatronic on it.

Crawling forward slowly, a quiet melody could be softly heard. The tune was familiar; you remember a shadowy room, and the music box that seemed to be attached to something.. or someone. You remember the pale, and decorated dancer, her eyelids adorned with long, black lashes. She had rosy pink cheeks with similarly colored lips, her mouth spread in a small smile. You remembered the miniature mannequin-like ballerinas, and how they encouraged you to dance with them.

The sound had faded, and you looked around for the familiar silhouette of the ballerina. It was so dark, and you felt so pressured in this impending gloom.

Crawling forward again, the melody appeared closer, and you stopped once again. Nothing was seen once again, even as you looked to the left where the noise amounted from.

"Ballora.." you whispered, hardly realizing the word left your mouth. The sound grew loud in your left ear, and travelled around you to your upper right. Shifting ahead, you still saw nothing as the lolling harmony grew closer and closer. Soon, you caught a few words being sung along with the music. It was a mournful song, the notes being dropped at the end of each verse, making the tune fall flat on purpose.

The song made your eyebrows arch in sadness, almost like this room gave off an aura of somber. 

Breathing slowly through your nose, you crawled again, barely having made any progress to the breaker room. 

The song had grown very loud directly next to you, but before you could move any further, HandUnit's voice boomed out in piercing audio.

"It seems you are taking a long time. Please proceed as quickly and as quietly as possible."

You laid idle, but the music grew louder despite your attempted silence, and you began to back away from the sound. 

Stop making noise, stop making noise..!

You couldn't stop moving as panic overtook you.

A hand.. A white hand with long, slender fingers... Blue nails clinked on the tiles as another arm extended to you. Her beautiful face appeared in the glow of your flashlight, as her faceplates shifted. An intricate and expertly crafted skeleton of wires and metal declared itself to you abruptly. Her eyelids opened to reveal two small eyes, and two purple irises that glistened in your light. A thin jaw with stinging razors for teeth opened. A loud screech radiated from her.

Pushing yourself away, she grabbed your forearm, the layers of her face fluctuating back and forth as you struggled.

"No!! Ballora, please! Don't you remember me?!" you yelled in response to her shriek. Clenching your eyes tightly, preparing for whatever was to come.

She stopped, and you felt a hand lightly feel your face. You flinched, the memory of her doing the same gesture all those years ago arose. She let you go, and you cracked an eye open as she let you gently to the ground. Her plates were closed, and she had recoiled away from you.

Her music box had stopped, and the stillness rattled you. She shook her head violently, and covered her face with her hands.

"Ballora..?" you asked silently, she removed her hands from glossy face, and you looked at her in silence.

"I-I'm sorry.." her soft voice began to break. You approached her slowly, and reached out at her.

You gently touched her shoulder, and the cold chrome-like surface met your finger-tips. She spun around to touch your face, and you were startled but didn't back away.

"Please help us..!" she said, 'looking' you deep in the eyes, and her opulent figure rattled when HandUnit's voice rang out again.

"It seems you are taking far too long. Unless you enter the breaker room within the next twenty seconds, your position will be terminated."

You looked back to her, and she stood up, struggling to stand. It looked like her feet could not support her weight without a track of sorts. Holding her hand to help her up, she shook her head again, and fell to her knees.

"Go, Y/N." she said, but you hesitated.

"Just.. play the audio and he will be calm..!" she said quietly. You were confused, but rqn out towards the breaker room.

Slamming the door behind you. 

"Motion trigger; Breaker Room."

"You may now interface with the breaker control box. Using the interface may disrupt nearby electronics. If you feel you are in danger, feel free to disconnect the interface temporarily, until it is safe to reconnect."

Looking around the room, it was quite dark apart from the occasional spark that lit the room. You soon realized that you were not alone here. A tall and very large animatronic stood on a small stage on your right.

It was a white bear with purple accents. You also saw a flash of blue on it's hand, and eventually saw a fully formed rabbit head. You only recognized it from the trademark patches and merchandise. 

You looked to your left to see a breaker box with a screen attached to it. There was also a remote that lay next to the screen that has a piece of masking tape over the top with pen on it. It read; 'Mascot Response Audio'.

You clutched it as you remembered Ballora's words. She said to play the audio and he would be calm. Putting two and two together based on your guide's words and the ballerina's, you figured that as he got closer, you would have to play the audio for him.

Turning on the device, you began to reboot the Circus Control. Completing the first one with no problem, the moment you began to reboot the Circus Gallery, a shrill voice echoed out.

"H-ha, ha, HA! O-oh, well, hello again!" 

Flinching, you pressed the audio, hearing a high pitched voice respond to the highly erratic one.

"Calm down, and go back to sleep! No one is here!"

You watched as he seemed to flicker back and forth with the light, and finally return to it's stage.

Beginning to reboot Funtime Auditorium, you completed it successfully and began the next. Having to stop once more as he kept growing closer, you played the cheery voice of what you assumed was the rabbit speak.

"You must be hearing things silly! Ha, ha!"

"BOn-BoN! Say-ay hi to our fRieNd!"

That robot must be out of commission. It's voice box sounded very damaged. Concerned about the robot, you ceased your work to observe him.

His motions seemed quite eccentric and bizarre. Definitely not normal, which concerned you further.

Shaking your head, you continued rebooting Ballora's Gallery. You could hear the electricity come back on, the whining sound of voltage surging through the cables around you sent even more sparks flying.

"H-hey Bon-B-bon.. I thi-think that's the birthday boy over the-ere. We should go give him a surprise!"

You groaned in discomfort as the animatronic grew closer. You feared you were running out of time to do this.

Parts and Service were done, and you were on to the last three.

"Shh, go back to your stage. Everything is okay."

The bear retreated back at those words, and you took the chance to reboot the elevators. You sighed softly in relief as you knew you couldn't get out no matter what if you didn't get that done.

"I see you over there in the dark! Come-come on out!"

You crouched low behind the breaker as the robot neared once again. His gigantic body towering over you, and just his shadow engulfed you in darkness.

"Oh calm down! I think it was just a mouse!"

Two more, and one was almost done. The last two were observatories, somewhere that you had never been before but you didn't question it. After all it was only your second day and things had already gotten interesting.

One left. Just one more. Waiting for him to retreat to his stage, you began to reboot. Pressing the response just to be safe. To your horror, nothing came out. No squeaky and kind voice came out, but you demanded to yourself to finish the last one before looking. 

A smooth surface brushed against your hand holding the screen. Looking up you saw the puppet, it's magenta eyes were wide as it's rosy cheeks and floppy blue ears bobbed up and down in front of you.

You fortunately completed the task just on time, and pushed yourself away from the bunny. Only to have your back collide with something large and solid. Spinning back around, you saw the bear.

It grabbed at the air around itself, and you figured it couldn't see to well. Taking advantage of it, you ducked under it and the hand puppet, sliding under some cables. You couldn't see it too well, but you could hear it tromping around. You wanted to make a run for the door, but if you were caught there would be no chance of escape.

You figured the only chance was to wait until he fell back asleep. You gripped one of the cables you hid behind, all of your limbs were pressed tightly against yourself.

Silence began to spread once more, and you were preparing to run for the door. Beginning to slip your leg out of your hiding place, you waited for sound.

You felt a hand, a sleekly glossy hand grab your ankle roughly, yanking you upwards swiftly. You grunted as you dangled in the air awkwardly, eyeing the unknown perpetrator.

The white and purple bear grinned gleefully as he lifted you over his head. You saw that the rabbit had reattached itself to the bears free hand, and was watching you in curiosity.

"H-hey!! Stop!" your voice shook slightly from the odd position you're in, and your hands found themselves wandering to his polished face, pushing at the smooth surface.

"Heh, hah, hah! Well, hello again!" 

The puppet had dislodged itself from it's much larger friend, and started to crawl down your leg. You jerked in the bears iron grip, the bones in your ankle aching marginally from the extreme pressure.

He changed his gaze from you to the rabbit, and his face shifted, his head tilting to the side.

The very large hand puppet grabbed your face with its two paws, moving your face from side to side as if inspecting you. 

Feeling yourself fall to the ground, you landed on your back, knocking the breath out from you as you felt your spine arch from the pain. Heaving for air, you felt the puppet pull itself over to you. The bear stood over you like a beast searching for prey, and you pushed yourself away, as the puppet just observed you.

The path to the door was open, and you stared at the bear for a split moment as his face plates opened like a daylily, and his burning blue eyes acted as a spotlight on you. You saw his chest plate begin to open, the hissing of gas leaving or entering a space inside him made you flinch. A large cavity in his stomach commenced to show.

You took the chance of escape.

Pushing yourself up, you bowed underneath him, and ran for the door out of this awful room. You didn't want to turn back but did it anyway, seeing his head rotate 180 degrees to follow your movements, even seeing his entire body pivot simultaneously. 

You panicked, but continued to run anyway. You stopped, realizing you were back in Ballora's room. As your panic and adrenaline dyed down, the pain shot up from your ankle. 

You gasped and laid on your knees, feeling your ankle. Inhaling through clenched teeth, a sharp pain jolted up your leg painfully. 

"God.." you groaned to yourself as your eyes had shut themselves.

The familiar clinking of nails against the floor made your eyes light up. Ballora came up behind you, placing a hand on your back. You flinched slightly at the sudden touch, but relaxed when you saw her face. Your breaths were noticeably labored, and she tilted her head.

"Y/N..?" she asked softly, but you didn't know how to respond.

*CLUNK*

A loud sound that came from behind redirected your attention.

"Well hello again~"


	9. Secrets Buried

Ballora stood in a graceful manner. Her closed eyes not making a move as she strides forward slowly. Her arms hovered over her side as she stood almost in front of you.

"Funtime Freddy.. go back to your stage. She completed her task." Ballora slightly growled under her breath. The bear who's name was apparently 'Funtime Freddy' and not just Freddy, locked on to Ballora's shadowy figure.

Still on the floor, you laid on your knees in the dancer's shade. Her tall figure noticeably stretched a good two inches over Freddy's, although he seemed much heavier. The memory of his already tall build loom over you while his chest opened made you shutter.

"Heh, he, ha.. Wh-why do you s-stand in my way Ballor-ra..? I-I almost had her!" he put his hand on his chest, the rabbit who he called Bon-Bon was raised into the air. She turned her head down to you, and she opened her eyes slightly. The two purple irises gleamed at you, and she winked at you before she turned away.

"I-I figured that I would let her live. Isn't Baby looking for a specific night guard? Who knows if this one meets her priorities." she said, a slight nervousness in her voice that you didn't quite understand.

His large white hand twitched, and you began to stand slowly as he stared at Ballora. She stayed looking at him, and a silence blanketed over you eardrums.

"G-get going the-en." he said as he looked at you with anger, his eyebrows arching. It even creeped you out how the little bunny just smiled through the bears anger.

Looking at the ballerina briefly, you turned and ran. Diving into the vent and crawling through without a worry for the sounds you were making. Shoving yourself through the final vent to the elevator, you felt relief as the cheerful chime of the end of you work night.

You rode up in absolute alleviation when the metal doors opened up, finally letting yourself back to the surface. Taking a moment to bask in the sun, you contemplated telling someone about the increasingly strange events at this facility.

________________________________________

You laid in bed; catching up on your online school work. You texted on and off with Beatrice as well; telling her about work, mostly about how stressful it was. Not necessarily telling her about the torture factor and living robots part.

She was quite comforting about it, but you still felt bad because she didn't know the whole story.

She was busy with school, so there wasn't much time for the two of you to hang out.

You were exhausted already from the previous work day, and spent most of the remaining day sleeping or doing school work.

After an extensive amount of down time, once you check the clock you groaned as it read almost eleven thirty at night. The day had passed so quickly, and you now all the sudden felt rushed as you hadn't eaten in about six hours.

Rushing down the wooden stairs of your house, you sped into the kitchen. Grabbing a pop-tart and some water, you sat down on the window seat in the small dining area. Looking out into the pitch black background of your home, you ate quickly. The shade of outside intimidated you a bit, but you let it go, throwing away the silver wrapper as you finished.

Wiping the crumbs from your mouth, you called to your mother to tell her that you were off. She responded tiredly, and you furrowed your brow in worry. Sighing, you shut the door behind you softly.

As your tires crunched on the gravel comfortingly, you drove off into the ever growing twilight.

________________________________________

The sky had begun to rumble with thunder, and a light shower of rain pitter-pattered on your car windows.

Running into the building, you made it to the elevator as the doors shut behind you.

"Welcome back to another pivotal night of your thriving new career, where you get to really ask yourself, what am I doing with my life? What would my friends say, and most importantly, will I ever see my family again? We understand the stresses of a new job, and we're here for you. To help you reach a more stable and relaxing frame of mind, we offer several musical selections to help make this elevator ride as relaxing and therapeutic as possible. We offer contemporary jazz, classical, rainforest ambiance, as well as a wide selection of other choices."

As always, the yellow keypad pivoted over to you.

"Using the keypad below, please type in the first few letters of the musical selection you would prefer."

You thought for a moment, but realized that it didn't really matter what you typed in as it would autocorrect to something you didn't want anyway. Clicking the 'C' key, you weren't even sure if you pressed it as the keyboard glitched.

"It seems you had some trouble with the keypad. I see what you were trying to type, and I will auto-correct it for you. Thank you for selecting;

Casual Bongos."

What'd you expect? Nothing much is the answer.

"Now that your elevator experience has been customized to your needs, and your thoroughly relaxed, it’s worth mentioning that due to your lackluster performance yesterday, your pay has been decreased by a substantial amount. Please enjoy the rest of your descent."

You gaped. Completely taken aback by the audacity of the people who worked here. You could have died yesterday, and the automated robot seemed to let that slip his mind. Now you were earning even less to be in this ghastly place. You had even checked the online paperworks to find that you couldn't quit until after five days, unless you had filmed proof and good reasoning.

The beats were actually quite nice and you enjoyed the selection on the way down into the facility, and a fiery ember of anger boiled inside you, but was slowly tamped down as you descended further underground.

As the zone you stood in slowed to a stop as always, you opened the doors with a clunk and a sigh. Lowering to your knees, you crawled passed the yellow police tape, hardly batting an eye to the warning signs by the vent.

The vent slamming behind you as you stood in the primary control module, nothing seemed to change in the small room as always. Although you did just notice the strange adornments of blinking doll heads and odd smiling clock.

"Due to unforeseen malfunctions from today’s shows, your nightly duties will require you to perform maintenance that you may or may not be skilled enough to perform. It became necessary for technicians to attempt to disconnect Funtime Freddy’s power module. However, they were unsuccessful. Allowing them to try again would be an inefficient path forward, as we would need to allow six to eight weeks for recovery and physical therapy. You will need to reach the Parts and Service room on the other side of Funtime Auditorium to perform the procedure yourself. Another unforeseen defect from earlier in the day has caused Ballora to acquire several internal and external damages. First, let's check on Funtime Foxy."

You took in the information, and suddenly became worried. Ballora seemed so fragile compared to Funtime Freddy's bulky stature, and when you had left yesterday, things didn't seem very friendly. Recoiling slightly, you shined the light to reveal nothing. Prepping to shock the poor robot, you awaited instructions.

"Great, it looks like everything is as it should be in Funtime Auditorium. There is no need to check on Baby tonight; please refrain from entering unauthorized areas. Proceed directly to Funtime Auditorium."

You furrowed your brow at the strange instructions; curious as to why HandUnit would even tell you about Baby if there was no need to check on her? Also confused as to how he completely ignored the fact that Funtime Foxy was absent from the stage, and you would now have to enter the auditorium.

Curling your lips into a slight grimace, you crawled into the Circus Gallery vent. A motion trigger sounded out, but HandUnit didn't respond to your disobedience.

The room was dark, and was very quiet with the absence of the whirring of electronic components and devices.

Unsure of what to do, you contemplated turning back, but you felt a need to stay. Stepping closer to the small space under the desk, you crawled in, and shut the silver shield over your form.

It was silent, not a single sound was heard.

"Did you know I was on stage once? It wasn't for very long.. only one day."

That same soft and kind voice from the previous nights spoke softly to you. You now knew that this was an animatronic although you had already suspected, it cleared things up a bit.

"What a wonderful day though! I was in a small room with balloons and a few tables. No one sat at the tables though.. but children would run in, and out. Some were afraid of me.. others enjoyed my songs. Music was always coming from somewhere else. Down a hall."

She continued, speaking almost longingly.. nostalgically.

"I would always count the children.. I'm not sure why. I was always acutely aware of how many there were in the room with me."

"There were two, then three, then two, then three, then four, then two, then none."

You pressed your knees closer to your chest as she spoke; her words sending chills up your spine, and goosebumps to spread over your body.

"They usually played together in groups of two, or three. I was covered in glitter. I smelled like birthday cake!"

"There were two, then three, then five, then four."

Her counting continued with what you assumed was pin-point accuracy.

"I can do something special.. did you know that? I can make ice cream! Although I only did it once."

"There were four, then three, then two.. then one. Something happened when there was one. A little girl standing by herself. I was no longer.. myself... and I stopped singing."

A little girl? 

With how she spoke as if she was waiting for there to only be one, it frightened you a bit. However, she seemed haunted with herself.. but you still didn't know the outcome. However you couldn't help but think about all those years ago; about that little girl with the green eyes.

"My stomach opened, and there was ice cream. I couldn't move, at least, not until she stepped closer... There was screaming for a moment, but only for a moment. Then other children rushed in again, but they couldn't hear her over the sounds of there own excitement. I still hear her sometimes... Why did that happen?"


	10. Escape?

You sat idle for quite a few minutes. Taking in the information, you felt puzzle pieces in your brain begin to mold together.

That day I was alone in her gallery.. I heard a scream. That little girl with the green eyes, and Circus Baby with blue eyes... The place closed down, and they blamed the sudden closing on a gas leak. They covered it up to save their reputation, and then kept these animatronics on a leash so they don't do anything else. Circus Baby killed the girl, but she didn't know why. She didn't mean to, right?

You left the 'safety' of the small space under the desk, and crawled through the vents, all the while thinking about what else you would be faced with tonight.

A breeze from the large fan that faced you in the control module sent chills in your being. The Funtime Auditorium vent was wide open, and you quickly descended to the vent and through the tight space.

"Unlike Ballora, Funtime Foxy is motion-activated. For this reason, it's important to keep the room dark, as to not accidentally activate her. You have been provided with a flash beacon. Use it if you need to get your bearings and to ensure you don't bump into anything. However, use it as sparingly as possible. Proceed forward to reach the Parts and Service room."

It was extremely dark as HandUnit had stated, and your hand wandered down to your belt that held the flash beacon. Grabbing it, you held the heavy device with both hands as you steadied it. Feeling around on the gadget, you found a button, and pushed it with a click.

A bright flash of light illuminated the entire room briefly. Your eyes barely had time to adjust to the brilliant light, only making out the parts and service door at the opposite end of the room. The rest of the room seemed empty which confused you as to why HandUnit insisted you use the flash beacon in order to not bump into anything.

Walking forward several steps, you froze as a strange shuffling sound reached your ears. In the darkness, your hearing seemed to enhance ever so slightly without the aid of sight. Finger teetering over the button to flash, you pressed it.

A vivid flash revealed a figure, a figure that seemed a little taller than you about ten feet in front of you. It stood there, feet apart and arms slightly reaching out with its hands in a position as if to snatch you where you stood. The light faded as soon as it lit up the room as what you understood was an animatronics head shook and twitched.

Feeling the hairs on the back of your neck raise, you waited. Hearing that shuffling noise again, it was quieter, and seemed farther away.

Waiting a few more seconds before flashing again, the white light beamed out again.

The creature was now slightly obscured by the darkness, and was off to your left. Its eyes watched you as its head still shuddered. Realizing now that this was Funtime Foxy, the white and pink fox with the swishing tail and gleaming orange eyes.

Waiting once more, you continued this cycle of red light green light. You and the fox in a repeating dance until you would reach parts and service.

The door was so close you could almost reach it, and you pushed yourself out to the door, reaching out to it. You had moved too quick, and the fox in question was too close for comfort.

Flinching away from the oncoming breeze from the claws of the fox, you spun around the see the slim face of the canine. 

Its face split into several plates, revealing the complex array of wires and tubing. It roared in a hight pitched screech; its face snapping back together before partly opening again. Kicking as its clawed hands grabbed your arms. Jabbing it in its chest, it didn't seemed fazed and you began to panic.

"Funtime Foxy! I-I'm-I'm sorry I had no choice! I didn't want to hurt you I'm sorry!! I-I..!" you begged as it pushed itself closer to you, but slightly slowed; as if to listen to you. Taking the moment to push away slightly, you spoke again.

"I have to fix Ballora and Funtime Freddy! Please..! I-I need to fix them" you said loudly, pushing at its chest as its ears twitched.

It let you go quickly, and backed away shuddering. It watched you as you stood, and then proceeded on all fours, scampering into the darkness. You didn't wait, and rushed into the parts and service, grabbing your flashlight off your belt.

You came face to face with another animatronic as the door shut behind you loudly. It was Funtime Freddy. He sat frozen, staring off in some direction behind you. Bon-Bon was raised in the air, also carrying the same blank expression.

"Great job reaching Parts and Service! It seems that Funtime Freddy is out of power, which should make your job much easier. The release switch for the chest cavity is located on the underside of the endoskeleton jaw. To reach it, we will first need to open the face-plates. You will need to press the face-plate release triggers in a specific order, and it's important to be as precise and as careful as possible. Locate the small button on Freddy's face, just under his right cheek, and press it."

He was out of power.. that was a huge relief, and this seemed like a much more simple task. Looking around the bears face, a small button rested directly under Freddy's right cheek; or more like under the rosy blushed part of his cheek.

A small click sounded, and you froze, hoping that what you did was right. This bear gave off a very disturbing vibe ever since that night in maintenance.

"Great! Now locate the button under his left cheek, and press it."

HandUnit repeated a similar phrase, only applying to his left cheek. Finding the button quickly, you pressed it as the same click came out.

"Great! Now carefully locate and press the button next to Freddy's right eye."

You groaned in anticipation, waiting for whatever was to come as you clicked the button.

"Great! now carefully locate and press the button just above Freddy's nose."

Just as you pressed the button, all of the bears plates opened simultaneously, scaring the living hell out of you as you grunted, stepping backwards and almost falling.

Half-lidding your eyes, you nervously laughed as Freddy seemed to gaze at you with bright blue eyes.

"Good job! The face-plates should now be open. Locate and press the small button on the underside of Freddy's endoskeleton jaw."

Gazing at the much more linear endoskeleton of Freddy, you saw the shining white button under the conglomeration of wires near his jaw.

Another strange sound of gas leaving or entering an air-tight space reminded you of previous nights. The sound almost sent you flashbacks that frightened you, but you continued on.

"Excellent. The chest cavity should now be open. Remove the power module from the chest cavity."

You looked in the massive bears chest, seeing a small circular device with a red light blinking. You grabbed it with your thumb and forefinger, pulling it until it popped off with a satisfying 'pop'.

"Great work. You will now be required to remove the secondary power module from the Bonnie hand-puppet. Press the large black button beneath Bonnie's bow-tie to release the power module."

Wait.. it's gone..? Where did it go? It's gone!!

A light giggle in a familiarly high pitched voice caught your attention as light shuffling sounded behind the big white bear.

Light blue ears peeked out from his right shoulder, but ducked behind him again. Giggles and shifting of something light but solid.

Under the bowtie he said.

You glanced at the bunny as it slowly rose up. Reaching out you poked the big back button, freezing the rabbit in place. 

Sighing in relief, you breathed normally, not even realizing that you were holding your breath.

"Great job. You've acquired both power modules. Press the green button to send Funtime Freddy away, and send Ballora to be repaired. This will complete your tasks for the night."

Reaching down to press the button, loud mechanical sounds pierced your ears momentarily as Funtime Freddy rolled away on the conveyor belt. Once he made it past a certain point, a door closed over him.

Looking to your left, another similar door opened, revealing Ballora on the moving belt. She didn't look in the best shape; her slender form coming to a halt in front of you.

"It seems that Ballora is in no shape for dancing, and is in need of some readjustments. Her faceplates are hanging loose, and need to be tightened. First, we need to tighten the small gas tank that compress her body and face plates. You have been equipped with a screwdriver which is all the necessary tools we have to provide. Locate and tighten the gas tank inside Ballora's stomach, which should be open from the damages."

You felt around for your screwdriver, holding your flashlight between your teeth. You kneeled before her, and opened her stomach slightly more for better access.

"Sorry.. I'll try to be gentle." you said quietly, hoping she could hear you.

You saw a small cylindrical tank amongst her wires, and was slightly ajar, having leaked all the remaining gas out of itself.

Screwing the loose metal back on, you waited.

"Great job. A backup gas supply will begin to fuel her body and face plates. Make sure to close her stomach plates securely."

You closed the pale surfaces on her lower abdomen, and looked back up to her face as you stood. You mostly just realized how intricate her endoskeleton was compared to the others. It was very unique and exquisitely structured, her eloquently carved face of chrome plates hung loose.

"Great job. Please secure her face plates by pressing them together in their correct positions."

Reaching up, you gently pushed them together, hearing a wheezing of gas as they clicked together. She twitched slightly, and you watched her.

"Great work! This completes your tasks for the day. Please exit through Funtime Auditorium, and we'll see you back here tomorrow."

You didn't want to leave her... She seemed so.. alone.

Her eyes suddenly fluttered, and her faceplates shifted. Her head lifted slowly, and she opened one eye to see you.

"..Y/N? Pl-please... Take us with you..? We can't stay here..! We need to leave!" she said panicky, you had never heard her raise her voice even a little bit. She was always very calm, and now she seemed frantic.

"I.. I-I can't.. I would b-but..." you said stuttering, she reached up to your shoulders, and her minireenas that laid deactivated at her side suddenly stood, crawling on the ballerina. You stood frozen; torn between following orders or helping them.

She suddenly looked over to the right.

"Did.. did Funtime Freddy go in there..?" she asked, her eyes fixated on the metal door. You nodded, and she flinched away from the door.

"N-no... You have to get him..!" she said, clutching onto your shoulders as her minireenas buried themselves into the nooks of her suit.

"It seems you are taking past the authorized amount of time to exit the building. Please exit now." 

Ballora grabbed your forearm, her body shaking.

"Y/N.. you have to help us... We've been here for so long! Please help us get out!!" she raised her voice even more. You looked over to where Funtime Freddy had disappeared to. Looking at her pale face, you held her.

"I-I'll go get him." you said, swallowing your fears, you marched towards the door and opened it with the keycard you had been provided.

The room was flashing with lights, and it took you a moment to see your surroundings. The tall bear stood there in front of you. He was facing a large.. almost 'spoon' like device. You approached him quickly, rushing as a loud sound was heard, you shoved him out of the way just in the nick of time as the device thrust forward, repeating the motion two more times.

The bear was still deactivated, and had crashed to the ground, and you heard the steps of something, or someone.

"Y/N.. why are you interfering with our matters? I don't want to make things difficult-"

You cut her off.

"I want to help you get out! Just don't hurt any of them! I'll help just.. just tell me what I need to do..!" you said bravely, hoping the animatronic would show herself. 

A figure appeared in the window of the room with the large scooping device. A silhouette of a very tall girl.. she had pigtails and a shirt with ruffled sleeves. She was huge; looking to be over seven feet tall, and as she got closer more details could be seen. She looked like a clown.. with a red nose, ned cheeks, a pale face, and a very unique and playful outfit.

"Circus Baby..." you said, eyes widening. You felt so stupid for not realizing it before. You felt like you didn't notice anything that had been happening because you didn't recognize her voice.

"I'll help you! Just tell me what I need to do!"


	11. Almost There

"... What?" her voice questioned, evidently confused, and her head was tilted. 

You craned your neck down to the fallen bear animatronic, leaning down slightly, and heard his mechanical parts whirring. Sighing, he was okay.

"You will help us? You want to help us?" she lifted her hand in an almost reaching gesture, and seemed.. happy, but almost suspicious.

"I can try but.. how can I help?" you asked for the third time, but remained patient. She paused her movements, and you felt as if you could heard the gears in her mind cranking.

A small animatronic suddenly crawled towards you from the cracked open door of Funtime Auditorium. It was a small, maybe two and a half foot tall animatronic humanoid, and reminded you of the two robots on one of Circus Baby's posters.

The little thing walked up to you eagerly, then looking behind itself as another came in looking identical to the first. This one had yellow eyes, you realized, while the first had blueish-purple.

They both gazed up at you as they clung on your legs, then looking at each other.

"Take us with you!" the first said in a high pitched female voice, her eyes closing as she buried her face in you leg. The other didn't speak but just did the same. You looked down on them as they were fully attached to you, and Circus Baby watched thoughtfully.

"If you want to help us, then help us leave this place. We can't leave by ourselves looking like this. They'd find us, and we wouldn't be able to try again."

You watched her as her eyes glowed green in the dark, and she swayed slightly in the still air. You had no idea how you would be able to do this.. where could you hide them where your mother couldn't find out... oh, and what about Beatrice? How would she feel..?

You sat undecided, but knew that you can't just leave them here. How long has this place been open..? Maybe two years? Two years of torture and deprivation of proper love. These animatronics wanted to be free, and who were you to deny them that when they clearly have the emotions and complex minds to understand pain. It felt cruel to leave them.

"I will help you..! When..?" you didn't care if this was going to be difficult, you wanted to help them, and you would do anything to help them, do anything to make Ballora happy.

"Now." she said, and walked away slowly, entering the door into the room with the deactivated bear. Her hight towered over you by more than two feet, and her head almost reached the ceiling. You scrunched yourself up below her, and her daunting smile intimidated you.

"I-I don't know if you will-" you stopped, not wanting to offend her by telling her you don't think that she will fit in the car. Your car was big, but probably can't hold several animatronics weighing over two-hundred pounds each. 

You felt around in your pants pockets, and asked Baby to wait while you made a call.

You cousin, Tyler, owned a truck-for-rent company, and he had friends who worked on all shifts, and you hoped he could do you a favor. If he could lend you a truck designed for moves, you could get these animatronics to your house easily, as long as your mother was gone for work.

You called him, not explaining the details, and he agreed to send someone over with a truck, and he only asked that you give him a souvenir from work. You jumped inside, already planning out how this was going to happen.

Ballora was holding a few of her minireeas while one of them watched you as you spoke on the phone. Once you hung up, Ballora directed her head to you, listening.

"Ballora.. You're all coming with me.. I refuse to leave you here." you said, sitting next to her as her thin metal jaw on her endoskeleton gaped.

"Y/N! Oh, you..!" she cried, covering her face, her little students looked at each other and her. You put you hand on her shoulder, and she grabbed you, her arms wrapping around you in a tight embrace.

You blushed slightly, and hesitantly hugged her back. Her automated breathing wheezed out, and she almost sounded like she was crying. Her labored breaths eased as you phone buzzed.

A text from your Tyler, reading that his friend was here with the truck and that you needed to go up to speak with him before he could give it to you.

The ballerina seemed shaken, so you gently grabbed her hand.

"I'll be back, stay here, and tell the others that i'm getting the transportation." you said smiling, even though she couldn't see. Circus Baby came in through the other door, ducking under it and walking up to you.

You motioned for her to stay while you left.

You darted through the auditorium and through the vents to the elevator. Catching your breath, you walked outside to meet Tyler's friend.

"Hey, uh, Y/N? Tyler sent me, so can you just sign here?" he asked handing you a paper and clipboard with a pen. You signed and he handed you the keys, giving you an address to return the truck to. You thanked him as he drove off in a car he had towed here.

As you descended back down, you opened the elevator to find most of the animatronics in the main control module. Some you didn't even recognize.

Ballora held all four of her minireenas, and she stood gracefully to the side of Baby, who had her two little..babies at her side. Funtime Foxy stood still, and held a small monitor with wire dangling out from it. Funtime Freddy stood with Bon-Bon and a similar rabbit puppet, only pink with green eyes. Another animatronic stood behind him; looking like the endoskeleton of Freddy, but with yellow eyes. He stood still as a statue, watching you.

"Alright.. come on." you said, piling a few of them on. Ballora came in first, and then Circus Baby insisted on coming. The elevator had a max capacity of half a ton, so you told the others to wait.

Once the small space began to move, Ballora seemed to lose balance, as the elevator seemed to mess with her balance mechanics. She managed to steady herself when you laid a hand on her back to help. Circus Baby seemed fixated as well, looking around the room, her eyes darting back and forth from the posters to the various pieces of technology speckled around.

Finally, the elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened abruptly.

Both of the animatronics looked at the surroundings curiously, and Baby stepped out of the space, one foot out. You still held onto Ballora, letting go and feeling slightly embarrassed. She hesitated, seemingly unable to continue walking. You looked at her concerned, her delicate fingers grasping around your arm. 

Baby seemed entranced, and looked around in the dim light.

"Y/N.. I can't walk like this. The only way I can walk is weird but, I can't walk without a track..." she said in an apologetic manner, and you grimaced.

"It's okay, do what you need to do." you responded, she let go of you as she put her minireenas on the ground. They all seemed like they could dance without anything.

Her shoulders hunched.. she bent over, spinning her torso so her frontal body faced the ground and her legs like normal. You were surprised at her contorted position, but didn't ask any questions.

Her faceplates shifted as she crawled forwards in the unfamiliar area. Her hands felt around the floor, feeling the light cover of dust and grime.

The truck was in park, and you asked the two enthralled animatronics to stay put as you went to open the truck. 

Circus Baby watched you, and you called her over. She approached slowly, eyeing the large truck, and her wide optics fixed on you.

"Come on..I need to get you all out of here before my shift ends." you said walking up to the robot and laying your hand on her arm. She flinched, but nodded and climbed into the back of the truck.

Ballora crawled over quickly, startling you. She stood, spinning her torso back around as she instinctively grabbed onto something to steady herself, that something being you. You didn't mind, and held her arm. She seemed so shaken that she was leaving, like she thought this would never come. You could't help but feel happy that you could help her, and make her feel this joy that seemed so unfamiliar for her.

You stopped her as she struggled to climb in, shaking your head. She flinched but then you spoke.

"You shouldn't have to stand back there, you can get in the front." you said, leading her over to the passenger seat. Trying to help her up, she was still very heavy so you had trouble, but she sat in the seat comfortably. You grabbed her minireenas one by one, lifting them into the ballerinas lap. They all giggled happily, and you walked back to where Circus Baby stood in the back.

"Is this okay Baby? Ballora just can't stand..." you said as she seemed to be thinking. She looked back at you and nodded, looking like she didn't want to be bothered.

"I-I'm going to get the others..!" you said loud enough so Ballora could hear, and walked off to the elevator, the metal doors closing around you.

When they opened once more, you motioned both of the Funtimes to come inside. They looked at each other, while Bon-Bon just looked at both.

Funtime Foxy scampered inside quickly, and Freddy followed soon after. As the doors closed, you saw the pink rabbit similar to the blue one fall off of Freddy, to which he leaned down to pick her up as she snickered. You smiled, glancing at Foxy as he looked down at the monitors he was carrying. You didn't know why he had them, but decided to save that question for later.

As you though about it, a voice over the speakers and a stop in the elevator startled you.

"Y-You-you are vio-violating ou-our policies-cies on hand-handling the animatronic-ics. P-powering off." a loud whirring sound of the power shutting down reached your ears. 

You were now stuck in an elevator with two unfamiliar animatronics, and that there was seemingly no way out.

"Shit..."


	12. Heading Out

The elevator stopped in its tracks and your blood ran cold.

The tight space remained pitch black even as your eyes adjusted, and you could only make out the large frame of Freddy and the slim stature of Foxy.

Backing away until your back hit the wall, you felt around for any kind of grounding to wrap your mind around the situation. Widening your eyes, you saw the two animatronics mechanical optics giving off their own distinct glow.

The cool feeling of metal behind you did nothing to sooth the tense atmosphere in the air around yourself and the animatronics.

They both just stared at you. Their piercing but colorful eyes were not a welcoming sight in your field of vision. 

You felt a cold pit of fear in your stomach, but it soon twisted to confusion when Funtime Foxy's head twitched, and then glanced down at the monitor he held.

Funtime Freddy looked at the fox in a similar confusion to yours, and Foxy shook his head before placing the screens on the ground. 

No one spoke as Funtime Foxy shook his hands, pointing to the monitors and then to the doors. You paused, trying to understand; nodding your head slowly, he pulled off the back of the screen, revealing the wires and circuitry as he expertly and meticulously weaved them to one of the control panels. He pulled back more wires from the control panel, and initiated contact between the two copper wires. Several sparks sprayed out as the screen flashed, and white noise hummed out from the speakers.

A blurry image faded in and out on the screen, and Foxy adjusted the wiring until the image was clear. It looked just like Funtime Foxy, except with a different color scheme and solid black eyes with a single pinprick of white light in the center. It was just the head of the entity, and has a circle of black and white tiles behind it, with three words spread above and below the head. It said the simple phrase; 'Please Stand By'.

It reminded you of how hackers tended to have a certain slogan that would taunt their victims after or during the hacking.

The fox swished his tail excitedly, and fiddled with the buttons on the monitor.

The lights above and around you flickered, and the fan directly above your heads began to spin slowly as it gained momentum.

You watched in awe as the elevator continued its ascent to the surface. You and Freddy both observed the fox as it picked the monitors back up before unplugging the wiring.

He looked at you in contained excitement as you smiled, nodding to him. He tilted his head, mouth opening as his tail swung back and forth. Gently patting him on the snout, he shifted his faceplates and glanced over at his Funtime counterpart.

Freddy glared at him, Bon-Bon raised away from his face as if to keep the rabbit from talking to him. The bear was shuddering slightly, his other hand clenching tight around his microphone.

Foxy whimpered quietly, his ears drooping and holding the screens flush against his chest. His pink nails clicked nervously against the plastic boxes as you stood awkwardly behind both him and Freddy. Soon, the space around you came to a slow stop, and the metal doors opened with a clunk.

The fox scampered out quickly, placing the delicate electronics on the checkered tiles before looking at you and the large bear.

You could feel the hairs on you neck stand on end, feeling his blue eyes bore into the back of your head. 

You speed walked out of the elevator, and shot a glance behind you.

His intimidating stature was slowly stalking towards you. You told yourself he was just following you, and gestured for Foxy to follow you as you exited the doors hastily.

The truck still stood where it was, and you looked to see Baby and Ballora talking through the front door window. She had apparently figured out how to roll down the window.

Seeing her after the incident in the elevator made a soft smile curl on your lips. It was almost funny how she seemed so suspicious of the outside world, as every few seconds while speaking to Baby she would peek around the environment. Just watching her as you approached the truck, her eyes would even peek out from under her eyelids; her amethyst colored optics glimmering in the thin slivers of moonlight.

She soon heard you and the eager fox's footsteps, her head perking up as you walked up to the window in front of Baby.

"We're here.. just had a little problem with the elevator." you said, putting your hand on the door. She laid her hand on yours by accident, flinching away in embarrassment she laughed.

Circus Baby shrugged, and greeted Funtime Foxy; helping him carry the monitors into the back of the truck and waving at the bear. He twitched his faceplates in return, only receiving a glare from the clown.

He begrudgingly climbed into the truck, but stopped suddenly. He quickly exited the truck and stomped over to you. You backed away a few steps as the fuming machine, pointing to the small blue bunny.

"B-bonnet..! We n-need her-er too!!" he demanded, and you remember seeing the smaller pink rabbit whom you didn't know the name of. This, you assumed was Bonnet.

"Alright! Just let me go get.. her." you said, backing away even further and telling the others to wait as you got the others.

You rushed through to the elevator, prepping yourself for one more trip into the facility.

When the descent into the earth finally stopped, the doors opened to the final two animatronics. 

They both seemed to be in the exact positions as before, and you leaned down to scoop up the small, but rather big rabbit in your arms. 

The golden-eyed skeleton moved slowly into the elevator; it's eyes pinned on you as you held the bunny in a gentle grasp.

The bear-like endoskeleton didn't seem to have any intentions like Freddy, but still sent chills up your spine with the way his glowing orbs were glued onto you throughout the entire ride.

A wave of relief seemed to flood through you when the doors to freedom opened, and you stepped out into the soft light of the moon.

Once you reached the bear who was anxiously speaking to Bon-Bon, you set the giggling rabbit down at his feet.

He fell to his knees the moment he saw her; even Bon-Bon popped himself off the bears arm to greet his recolored friend.

The two long-eared robots seemed to communicate through a barrage of giggles and squeaks; Funtime Freddy's mouth wide with glee as he watched them.

Even if this robot gave you the worst creeps, it warmed your heart to see them all together. Walking away, you saw Ballora with her head out of the window; both of her eyes open as she gazed at the stars.

Smiling, you walked around the truck to climb in the front seat. Buckling up, you peered over at her dark silhouette to see her seatbelt unbuckled.

"Do you.. need help with your seatbelt?" you asked nervously. She looked down at herself, and tried to fiddle with it herself. She stumbled and let her hands drop down to her side.

"..Yes. I'm sorry, I haven't used one of..." she stopped herself, handing you her seatbelt.

You nodded softly, and pulled the fabric over her metal body; watching as it slid over her chrome plates smoothly.

She nodded to you, and held onto one of her minireenas, who had began to climb the window.

You giggled, and rolled down your window.

"Is everyone in??" you called out through the window. No one answered apart from two bangs on the metal from the inside. Taking that as a yes, you sighed, putting the vehicle in drive.

It's time to take them all home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- Sorry for such a long wait, I haven't had too much time for writing lately. Please give me any opinions for how you might want the chapters to progress, as I might take those ideas and use them for future chapters. Thank you for reading!!


	13. Difficulty

I really hope mom isn't home... The only way I can help them is to hide them in my house....

As you got closer to your street, you contemplated getting them out of the truck before you reached your home incase she was there. She would definitely hear the truck and come to investigate before you could get the animatronics inside. You just hoped that she had the night shift tonight.

Ballora was very quiet on the way to your house, even her minireenas were still in her arms. You didn't want to bother her, as she was probably having a lot of feelings right now... She did just escape from a horrible place that she had been trapped in for several years.

You couldn't even imagine...

Pulling onto your street, you decided to leave the truck and check to see if your mother's car was there. Putting the vehicle into park, you laid your hand on the ballerina's shoulder. She flinched, but calmed when she noticed it was you.

"We're here, but I need to make sure that you guys won't be seen." you said quietly, and she held herself with her minireenas in her arms. Arching your brow in worry, you got out of the truck and walked around to her side. Opening the door, you opened your arms, offering a hug.

Her minireenas tapped her, and she slightly opened one of her eyes; her glowing purple iris peeking out at you shyly. She leaned into your warm arms, hugging you back. Her cold metal heating up in the slightest and her minireenas joining in the hug as well.

She pulled away slowly, letting out what almost sounded like a sigh.

"Stay here, I'll be back. Keep low if you see a car, okay?" you said, hand resting on her shoulder. She nodded in response, letting go of you.

Shutting the door softly, you went to the back of the truck to tell the others.

Opening the back, you explained the situation, telling them to wait as you go and check the house. 

"Remember to stay quiet. People sometimes take walks at night, so just stay still and quiet incase there are people about." you said, most of them nodded, looking back between each other.

Closing the back of the truck again, you walked down the road quickly. It didn't take too long before you rounded the back of a large bush, seeing your house. 

The shine of the moon reflected off of your mother's car, and you groaned in frustration. How in the hell were you going to get them in now?

Sighing through clenched teeth, you turned to walk away. Climbing back into the truck, you pinched the bridge of your nose. Ballora just kept her eyes closed as you tried to think of what you would do now. 

I have to get them in somehow... Mom might be asleep but she won't be expecting me nonetheless. 

Thinking for a moment, you scrapped together the idea that maybe you could keep a few of them hidden in the basement, maybe one in your room if they don't all fit there. Getting them inside in the first place is going to be the problem.

"My mother is home right now.. I'll have to sneak you in somehow, but I just..." you sighed, feeling choked up all the sudden. Holding your head, you could not let these animatronics go back to that place. Thinking about it, they probably wouldn't even get a second chance.. they'd be scrapped immediately, and you'd be in prison. They might have even dismantled them, tearing them apart for spare pieces for future models.

This situation just became all too real. The realization that you had practically stolen several highly advanced and expensive animatronics hit you like a bus. 

"Oh.. I can't believe I did this..." you groaned, mostly to yourself. Holding yourself, you pushed your hair out of your eyes. You felt nauseous all of the sudden, a wave of dizziness hitting you.

A cold sensation on your hand made your eyes snap open.. when did you close them..? Turning to the source, Ballora had laid her pale hand on yours, her eyes closed but her brow arched in concern.

"I-I-I'm sorry.. I just- I just need to get you all safe." you said, wiping your eyes of the tears that threatened in the corners of your E/C orbs. She still held your hand, and your cheeks slightly reddened. 

"Y/N.. you helped us get a taste of freedom. We will try to help you in any way... Well.. I will at least." she said, her genuine statement making a warm feeling of happiness spark inside you.

Nodding, you rubbed your eyes and turned off the engine. Ballora clenched your hand before letting go.

Exiting the front, you went to the back to tell the other's of the situation. Foxy and Freddy both seemed nervous, while Baby just listened as you explained what you were thinking.

"Okay.. My mother is home, which means it will be much more difficult getting you in. I'm going to sneak most of you in the basement, and maybe one or two of you in my room. I.. I don't know if she will be awake or asleep but she won't be expecting me home this early anyway." you explained.

"I-I'll just take some of the smaller ones for now.. just so I can see if she is awake." you said, and the two small rabbits crawled forward. Scooping up both of them, you nodded to Freddy who seemed very concerned of their safety. You found him to be in the likes of a protective dad.. sort of...

"I'll be back soon. Stay here, and stay quiet." you said, looking down at the two brightly colored rabbits. Closing the truck, you walked to the back door of the house. Peeking in the glass window, your mother wasn't in the kitchen or the den as far as you could tell. Holding you ear to the door, the rooms were quiet.

Breathing out slowly, you gripped the door handle with one hand. Slowly pulling the door open, you stepped inside. The house was still, and you closed the door hesitantly. 

No light came from your mother's room, so you hoped that she was asleep. Swallowing thickly, you made the steps towards the basement door quietly. A board in the floor creaking, making you cringe to a halt.

After no movement after that was heard, you laid your hand on the silver knob to the basement. Turning it and opening the door, it didn't creak thankfully, but the steps that led down were awfully dark. You couldn't risk turning on the light.

The stairs didn't give you too much trouble; only two of the steps near the bottom creaked. Your basement was pretty big, and was partly under construction, as it had been for several years. When you were much younger, you and your friends would play in the unfinished expanse of the place. You could definitely find a spot for them.

Setting out for one of your storage closets in the basement, you came up to it quickly. Opening the old door, you set the robots down on the plastic folding table that had been there for ages. Dust and cobwebs had been collecting on the surface for years, sending it all into the air as you swept it all away with your arm.

"Stay here. I'll be back." you said, shutting the door softly behind you and slowly walking up the steps.

Once you had made it back to the truck without stirring your mom, you prepared yourself for a long, and painfully quiet night.


	14. Confusion

Watching for cars as you crossed the road, you opened the back again.

"They're safe, but now I need to get the rest of you inside.. uh, Freddy? You next?" you asked him as he stared at his missing hand, or missing friend.

His head perked up, and eagerly nodded. You flinched at his desire to be reunited with the two animatronics, but softly smiled at the gesture.

"O-okay.. But you need to stay quiet, alright..? Just- just follow me, and don't say anything." you said in a quiet voice. He walked uncomfortably close to you the whole way, making you slightly perturbed.

Peering through the window once more, nothing seemed to change. Sliding the door open quietly, you led the large bear in through the door frame. One heavy footstep on the carpeted den floor made your eyes clench shut, pulling your finger up to your lip to silently shush him. He mocked you silently and you mentally rolled your eyes.

A soft movement from across the house reached your ears. Just a quiet shuffle, but definitely enough to be heard. The mattress in your mother's room squeaked, and you crouched down behind the couch. Tapping him, he too crouched down with a series of clicks and whirs from his machinery.

Silence... She must just be moving in her sleep.. probably.

Standing slowly, he followed you awkwardly to the basement door. Pulling the door completely open, nothing but a slight creak in it's hinges could be heard.

The stairs surprisingly didn't give much trouble either, despite the bear's great size. You weren't complaining, and let the three robots reunite from their momentary depart. You couldn't blame any of them though, they are attached most of the time.

"I'll be back, just going to get someone else." you whispered, he seemed to have heard you but was too distracted to respond.

Slowly walking up the steps, you heard a similar noise; creaking of a mattress, and then silence. Furrowing your brow in confusion, you tried to focus on the task.

As you made it out of the house, your mind wandered to the ballerina...

She seemed almost troubled, or as if something was occupying her thoughts.

Why am I so worried? She's just...

*honk honk!*

A car horn blared at you as you stepped a bit too far in the road; snapping out of your thoughts, you barely sidestepped out of the vehicles way.

Clenching your chest and catching your breath, you watched as the car drove off. Feeling a bit dazed from the interaction, you stayed still, watching the white taillights fade into the dim morning.

Exhaling slowly, you steadied yourself and walked the rest of the way to the truck.

What's going on with me..? I need to focus, I need to get them safe... I can worry about myself later.

________________________________________

One by one, you got them all inside in the span of about thirty minutes. Foxy almost dropped the monitors down the stairs to the basement, but managed to stop himself; not without him feeling incredibly guilty about it.

From the little you knew about Foxy, you assumed that he was mute. He only communicated through gestures, and simplified sign language. You didn't know it fluently, but had taken a class in school so you could vaguely understand what he was saying.

The bear endoskeleton, who's name was Yenndo according to Foxy, didn't speak at all. He only watched the others, and rarely moved in general. He seemed to like to be left alone, so you tried to honor that by not asking any questions.

Similarly, Circus Baby was fairly silent. She seemed to be thinking most of the time, and ignored you and most everybody else. She hardly fit through the door with her insane height, but managed to squeeze through without too much trouble. Her and Freddy's height made you question why a children's entertainment industry needed robots of that size. The rest of them had plausible statures, but you didn't ponder on it too long.

Now Ballora was the only one left to get inside, but there was one problem; you had given each of the animatronics their own spot to hide incase someone came down, and there wasn't any room left in the basement. You had already suspected there to be a problem in the long run, so you had a spot in your room where she could hide.

The others seemed perfectly content with this plan, almost relieved that she wouldn't be around. That made you a little saddened, but her solemn personality could be considered annoying. She seemed to be the only one, apart from Baby, who wasn't transfixed on the subject of children and birthday parties.

Now you just had to get her inside.

Walking back to propose the plan to her, you opened the truck door and sat down.

She moved her head in your direction, listening closely:

"Alright.. there wasn't any room left in the basement, so the only safe place to put you would be my room. I-is that going to be okay?" you asked nervously, not sure what you would do if she said no.

Lowering her head, she nodded;  
"Yes of course..! It would be nice to have some pleasant company every now and then." she said contentedly, as if that was a rare opportunity for her.

"Okay... The easiest way to get you into my room would be through my window. I'll get inside, and then signal for you. My room is ground floor, but walking past my mother's bedroom with you not being able to walk very well is risky. Just watch through the truck window and I'll motion for you when I'm in. Does that make sense?" You explained, hoping that wasn't too much information. She was a robot, and was probably designed to take in large amounts of data.

The inner machinations of her programming whirring, she nodded slowly.

She agreed, and you were off, back into the house.

It was much easier to get in without giant robots accompanying you.

However you walked in to something you didn't expect; your mother, with an unknown man. Both with wrinkled clothes and suggestive expressions. They both walked out of her bedroom holding each other.

"..Mom...?" You said just above a whisper, not believing what you were seeing.

She turned to you in shock, their lustful moment turning awkward. His expression confused and slightly annoyed, her face filled with embarrassment.

"Y/N?! Wh-what on earth are you doing home so early?" She asked, completely ignoring the mysterious man right next to her.

"First of all, who is that?? How could you do this to Dad?!" You yelled back, bewildered at her actions. You thought the only man Mom would ever love was your father, but he's gone and here she is with another man.

"I-it's not what it looks like honey!! I-I would never..!" She stumbled, making excuses. Everything about your mother that you loved seemed to shatter. What else has she been hiding??

"Then-then, what is it Mom??" You responded quickly. She frowned, dragging the man outside and taking him to a parked car in your driveway.

You took the moment to run to your room, not caring where she was going. Probably to the bar to get drunker.

Ever since your father passed away, she's become more and more distant. She goes out more, and leaves you to take care of your younger sister. She must be at a friends house as you didn't see her anywhere... Thankfully she didn't have to see that. She was a sensitive kid and it probably would have made her very upset.

Blinking away tears as you slammed your door behind you, only the dim glow of approaching morning lit your room.

Ballora popping into your head, you gasped and swiftly opened your window to motion for her.

She was already on her way with her- one, two, three.. four minireenas in her arms and clinging to her body.

Jumping out of the window to help her walk, you didn't speak, nor did she.

Climbing through your window, she balanced her toes on the hardwood floor of your room.   
The space wasn't huge, but had a full bed tucked in the corner with a bookshelf parallel to it. A nice empty space where your used to play pretend when you were younger, now just used for the sake of space. You had a single bedside table and a decent size closet to the opposite side of your bed; next to it was a small dresser with a mirror. A few paintings and small decorations here and there, nothing extravagant.

Ballora held onto the bed frame momentarily to steady herself, and stayed on pointe in the open area.

Sitting on your bed, you watched her, trying to ease your mind out of the situation. It lingered while you watched her; her graceful movements complimented her exquisitely sculpted face and body.. wait what?

Flustered, you looked away.

"You seem preoccupied Y/N... Do you need to talk any?" She asked in a wholesome manner.

You sighed, and spoke;

"My.. my mother is having a-a relationship with someone I don't know... Maybe it's just a hookup, but-but I don't know, and my father is gone.. how can she just betray him..? And-and she didn't tell me, wh-what else could she h-have lied about?? I just don't know.. and I'm confused..." you let it all out, tears streaming down your cheeks.

Crying steadily now, your head in your hands. Letting out soft sobs and whimpers, all the tension from the last couple days poured out.

Smooth and comforting metal wrapped around you, a tight embrace and quiet hushes calmed you.

She held you for a few minutes as you cried, your tears slightly dampening her chrome plates.

As you lifted your head off her shoulder, wiping away the wetness off your face; her hand cradling your cheek, she grabbed the tissue box off your bedside table, wiping the salty liquid of your cheeks and her shoulders.

Her motherly ways made you comforted, and your stress melted away.

Her deep voice reached your ears;

"It will be okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- whooooooo school is almost back for me, and that means less frequent uploads ;((( Sorry for the wait, but I have plans, and I needed to make sure they turn out right. Thanks for readingnngng!!!!


	15. Morning

Sleep didn't come easy tonight.

Ballora had decided to stay in your closet to avoid anybody who walked in seeing her. Her minireenas went with her too.

The presence of the ballerina was comforting, but also kept you awake with the feeling of someone else with you. Your younger sister rarely slept with you, so sleeping alone was more normal to you.

In regards to you and your friends, ever since things had gotten slightly awkward, sleepovers became much more sparse. Only hanging out every one and a while, but even that was becoming more and more infrequent.

Your mind even anxiously wandered to the animatronics in the basement. You desperately hoped they wouldn't be found by your mother who was definitely not going to be coming home sober.. and maybe not alone.

You also wondered where your sister was, and if she was okay. Your previous thoughts reminded you that she was probably at a friends house, as she tended to be out and about much more than you. She had blossomed into much a social butterfly.

Tossing and turning in your thoughts, you heard the creak of your closet opening. Turning to see her head poke out from the slightly ajar door, she listened as you sighed in exhaustion.

".. I'm sorry. I can't sleep, you can just ignore me." you mumbled, shoving your face in your pillow and breathing out slowly.

Turning your head around, she sat neatly on the ground, fiddling with her metal fingers. She wrapped her arms around her own waist seemingly self-consciously, and kept her eyes closed.

"My mind can't seem to halt it's functions either." she said, tugging lightly at her chrome faceplates. Your eyes darted back and forth from her facial features, her skillfully sculpted face was quite alluring.

You widened your eyes, wondering why you just thought that. You blushed slightly, watching her listen to you.

After a couple seconds, a very soft music box played in a solemn tune. It echoed in and out from her metal plates deep in her chest. You felt your eyes grow heavy, and your jumbled thoughts grew calm with the music.

Closing your eyes, your being felt warm and consoled. 

You drifted off into light sleep not too soon after she had calmed you, and you heard the soft click of the plinking melody turning off.

_________________________________________

The soft glow of the morning sun shone through your partially closed blinds. You don't remember shutting them, and open your eyes to see Ballora peering out the window.

Her fingers pulling apart two of the blinds more so she can see more clear, her knees resting on your carpeted floor as she gazed out of the low window.

"Good morning Y/N." she said softly, without looking at you. 

You sat up slowly, rubbing your eyes and yawning as she shut your blinds. 

"Do you.. do you know if my mother is home yet?" you asked sleepily, eyes burning from the lack of proper sleep. She turned back towards you and shuffled closer on her knees.

Leaning on the edge of you bed she spoke.

"No, I didn't see anything. No one had come inside at all throughout the early morning hours." she said, involuntarily resting her head on her cheek and feeling the soft fabric of your bed.

You sighed heavily and rubbed your eyes again. Looking at your bedroom door, you remembered the other robots in the basement. Pinching the bridge of your nose, you swung your legs over the bed, standing up.

"We should probably go check on the others. Just let me go get some breakfast and I'll get you downstairs so you can see them all." 

She nodded in return, pulling herself off the ground and balancing herself on your wooden bed frame. You helped her up, letting her sit on your bed and setting the covers before opening your bedroom door.

It was very quiet apart from the distant tweets and chirps of birds. You couldn't hear any movement anywhere in the house. 

Walking around to your kitchen in order to peek out the window to the driveway. It was clear out there, and nothing but your concrete driveway with a weathered character.

The tile in your kitchen was slightly unpleasant to your feet, and sent chills up your spine. 

Opening your cabinet, you were met with several different breakfast items. Only a few of them seemed adequate for the time you wanted to spend eating. You chose a packaged pastry and some water, tip-toeing back to your room as to not disturb anything else in the house.

You ate quickly in the silence of your room, and felt Ballora's line of sight drift towards you every now and then. You didn't say anything as you usually would, but still felt slightly uneasy. 

You really felt as if someone else was just going to burst through your home's front doors and catch you in the act of robbery.

You ate with more haste as you thought of the consequences.

Throwing away the silvery wrapper of your short breakfast, and drinking the last bit of water from the clear glass.

"Okay, we can go check on the others." you said, outstretching your hand to help her up. She shook her head, saying that she'd rather wait and that she's just slow you down.

You tried to reassure her, but she was adamant in staying.

Putting your hand on her shoulder, she flinched in the slightest. Wincing, you patted her and nodded to her as she watched you leave.

"I'll be back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- Sorry for so much time in between chapters. I've been very short on time with school, and work, etc. I'll try to update but school, and being social in general is just backfiring so much. I've just been feeling so unmotivated, so please forgive me.


	16. When Will She Return?

You stood at the top of the basement stairs, gazing down into the dark basement. 

Feeling around the wall in the dark, you flipped on the light switch and tip-toed down the stairs. You weren't sure why you were being quiet, but continued to do so as you descended the staircase.

Rushed shuffling reached your ears, and you assumed that they thought you were someone else. 

Peering around the corner of the staircase, they seemed to have all hidden, apart from one part that stuck out from behind a stack of cardboard boxes.

The tip of Foxy's tail poked out from behind the heap of cardboard and twitched slightly when you sighed in a mixture of confusion and humor.

"It's me guys, you can come out." you called in a hushed tone, followed by more silence and a few more quiet shuffles and mechanical sounds.

Foxy was the first to move, and peeked around the boxes, immediately relieved to see that it was you. They shifted their faceplates nervously, ears twitching.

Freddy came next, along with the two small rabbits peeking out from under a medium sized box. He stepped out from a corner between a stack of various storage containers and an old wardrobe that you used to play in.

You didn't know where Baby was, but assumed that maybe she hid somewhere else because of her size.

"..Where's Baby? Did she go somewhere else?" you asked, watching as Foxy crawled to your side and Freddy attached Bon-Bon to his arm once more. Foxy just looked at you with their wide eyes, and Freddy just staring at you.

Exhaling, you patted Foxy on the head and walked through a short hall in your basement. Looking through a few of the mostly unused rooms and closets, you finally found her.

She sat on the floor, her back against the wall next to a freezer that your mother used to keep her alcohol in. She moved it upstairs later and kept this particular freezer unplugged. Baby seemed to have plugged it back in.

She didn't seemed fazed as you walked in, her eyes in a complicated expression that you didn't quite understand. She seemed perturbed, but you decided to not mention anything.

"Hey.. are you okay? You didn't hide with the others..." you mentioned, rubbing the back of your neck nervously as you mentioned a subject that she didn't seem like she wanted to discuss.

She had her arms wrapped tightly around her waist.. but it was so strange seeing her smile when she looked like a lost child in a grocery store. You hesitated when her head tilted towards you slightly, her attention now directed at your figure standing in the doorway.

Her metallic silhouette sat on the ground as your shadow obscured her partially, her inner machinations whirring and clicking as she turned her line of sight to you completely. You seemed to have just registered the cold glow of her green eyes.

"You risked everything to help us Y/N. You are aware of the entangled mess you have inserted yourself in, right?" she asked, her luminescent eyes glinting a more serious tone.

You were out of words. Of course you knew what you have gotten yourself into, but again you realized that you were incredibly lucky to have escaped the facility with these animatronics. Flustered, you kept your mouth shut before you responded to her question- but you didn't even know what to think.

Baby turned away, shaking her head.

That hurt a bit...

She seemed like she wanted to be left to her own devices, so you decided to do your best to honor her wishes. Although her body language suggested that she shouldn't be left alone- feeling troubled and partially conflicted, you backed away slowly.

"I-I'll just leave you be. My mother isn't home yet, but be prepared to hide incase she does." you said, smiling before cracking the door. She didn't respond, and slowly turned her head- just staring forward- slightly rocking back and forth.

_______________________________________

It was now only just 12:03pm, and nothing was heard from your mother or sister. 

After you had left Circus Baby alone, you helped assign the others a proper hiding place.

Each one of them followed directions pretty well, and Foxy had taken quite a liking to you while Freddy seemed rather fatigued around you. He wasn't necessarily mean, but preferred talking to the two rabbits and Foxy.

After helping the others, you had returned to the upper floor to talk with Ballora.

You both agreed on her staying in the closet, and she seemed more comfortable with her own little place. She kept incredibly silent most of the time anyway, and would probably be the best one to stay upstairs anyway.

Before you could think of anything else, you heard the garage door open.

"Hide!" you whispered hurriedly before running to the basement door and shouting the same thing to the others.

Small beads of sweat already accumulating as you imagined who would come through the door.. although you weren't entirely sure what you were expecting....

The dark wood door creaked open as your sister walked in; two of her friends following not too far behind her.

They were all smiling; one of them with a bright and curious expression while the other had a more serious look between the first and your sister.

You got the vibe that the more serious one was a bit more punk. She had dark brown hair; straightened with a few bobby pins clipped in. Her eyelashes covered in heavy mascara and thick eyeliner. You didn't even know how she got out of the house with the cyber-punk and slightly skimpy outfit she was wearing.

The second on the other hand was wearing a simple attire; her hair wavy and medium length. She had a bright smile on her face, and wore no makeup or accessories. All she wore was a skirt that went down to her knees and a thin blouse.

You watched as the girls stepped in the house, and just watched and waited to see if they got suspicious. Even now, you think you're just being paranoid.

"Hey, Y/N! Is it okay if I have my friends over for a little bit?" she asked, gesturing to the girls standing beyond the doorway.

"Uh- Y-yeah, that's fine. Did you check with.. Mom?" you asked, fiddling with your fingers as your mind wandered back and forth between different subjects. Specifically, your mother and the band of animatronics that you stole from an underground torture chamber.

You shook your head; trying to scatter said thoughts from your mind.

"Uhh, no.. I was- well me and my friends were hoping your word would be enough of a yes?" she said, clenching her hands together in hope.

"I mean.. mom isn't home so it's not like she can come and make us leave..." she reminded you, making you become slightly annoyed as she continued to probe you.

"Ah-O-okay, just stay upstairs.. go in your room or something- I don't really care just don't go in the basement." you said, slightly regretting those words as you feared it would only make her want to go down more.

"Um, why?" 

"I-I just, there's stuff down there y'know? There's always stuff down there you shouldn't mess with. It's nothing special to us, but you wouldn't want mom to get mad? Hm?" you spoke, letting the words flow out as you tried to avert her attention from the basement.

"Uh, okay." she said lowly, and promptly defeated. She wasn't one to argue once she was argued against.

The group grabbed a few snacks and headed into the house. Starting in the direction of her room and gossiping on the way there.

Sighing loudly, you tried to calm yourself and prepare yourself for when your mother would be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH- It's literally 1:00am and I wrote this instead of sleeping, there might be typos and stuff but i'm just too tired to edit it right now. If anyone is still even reading this please let me know.


	17. Sister

The sound of your sister in her room was strangely comforting. Just knowing that another trusted presence was in your home made you feel a little better.

For most of that time, you spent your time reading and working on a bit of busy work. You did that often when you had nothing else to do, as your mother preferred for you to be busy, but 'intellectually busy', were her words.

Your sister's friends stayed for quiet a few more hours. It was about 4:00pm when you heard her calling to you.

"Y/N!! Y/N??!!" she called loudly, seemingly from her room and along with her two friends beginning to yell out jokingly.

Groaning, you sat up from your position on your bed and placed your book face up on the bed. Standing up groggily, you opened your door and called back out to her.

"What?? I'm trying to read!" you yelled, coming out much more annoyed than you meant it to be.

She apologized and then dropped another bomb on you.

"Can My friends sleepover?? Their parents are cool with it!" she said, and you face palmed. 

"Wh-what?! Mom isn't home, I can't be responsible if something happens!" you yelled, your voice straining from the stress that was coming from thinking about having to deal with that. You really didn't feel like arguing with her at the moment and forgot about the bots in the basement- not to mention the one in your closet.

Wincing, not wanting to yell anymore, you ran downstairs to talk to her.

Feeling the cold hardwood floors on your feet was slightly uncomfortable and the metal doorknob greeted your hand briskly.

"Okay-" you said, preparing to argue with her, "- you need to call mom if you want them over, okay?" you said, putting one hand on your hip.

"Awww, com'on!! They can leave in the morning!" she whined loudly, her voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard; you were far too tired for this act she would play.

"S/N, no. I can't keep doing this for you! If our mom comes back, who do you think she'll blame? Huh?" you said, trying to keep your voice level, which was failing.

She brushed you off, turning her back to you and slamming her room door behind her. So immature.

You both didn't argue too much, but noting that you were both almost polar opposites, this was unavoidable eventually. Especially how she was considerably not a night person, causing her to bang on your door at night demanding you to stop doing things you weren't even doing. This would then cause your mother to crawl out of her bed and scream at you both for twenty minutes.

Before Dad had passed on, things were good between you two. You both had unfortunately gotten caught in the storm and come out on the wrong end.

She'll come around...

You groaned and rubbed your temples.

Back upstairs, the first thing you noticed was your phone; illuminated from a text notification coming through. You thought this was strange, as you rarely received texts.

A small alarm went off in your head.

Picking up your device, the blue-green hue reflected into your irises as you read the ID;

Beatrice??

_____________________________________

Our first date went pretty well, didn't it? 

I bit my fingers nervously and tried to relax my face as it scrunched up anxiously. My mum always told me to expect nothing from anyone else unless they owed me something, but I thought maybe she was different? 

Am I too ignorant to think maybe she would be pleasant?

She isn't answering, does she not like me? 

Am I too paranoid?

Did she just lie to me to hurt me more?

No- she can't have it out for me...

I'm just gettin' up to high doe..!

Right?

*Knock Knock*

"Bea! What the fook are ye doin' in there??" pappy called. He sounds like he just came back from work and like he could use a trip to the pub...

"Aye- nothin' pappy..! Just feeling a bit low is all." I choked out; I really didn't need a laldie from old pa tonight. His lectures lagged sometimes and never made me feel better about the scunner I'd get into.

"If you're bein' a chancer, I'd prefer to find out now Bea." he scolded. I flinched at that; although he knows I'd do nothing too scandalous.

"It's really nufink' paps! Just feelin' a bit crabbit after this recent.. date. Ya know how it is with boys these days pappy." I responded to his intrusions. I heard a long drawn-out sigh before he stayed silent for a moment.

"All right, fine. I'll give this clatty a piece of my mind if he persists. Aye?" he reproached through the bathroom door. I sigh in relief and anxiety as he entertained meeting this guy who didn't exist.

Who knows how he'll react?? This is the only home I 'ave, and if I can't keep it and she turns out not to be the one, what would I do..?

I can't believe I asked her for a second date... She must think I'm so desperate, doesn't she? That's why she didn't answer isn't it..?

*bzzt bzzzzt*

Y/N> sent at 8:37pm

Ohhh my gosh Beatrice, I'm so sorry I missed your texts!! I have been unbelievably busy and haven't even checked my phone all day ): 

You> sent at 8:39pm

You had me worried for a second there... I thought you were just playing with me, haha.

Y/N> sent at 8:40pm

Whaaaat?? I couldn't do that to anyone without feeling like cripplingly guilty. Plus, I was going to ask you the same question :P 

You> sent at 8:42pm

Wow, really??

Y/N> sent at 8:42pm

Yea, we can always hang out at the movies again or maybe go to a cafe. You can even come to my house to chill if you want.

Y/N> sent at 8:43pm

That probably sounded a bit creepy ;-; Sorry, just ignore that lol

You> sent at 8:45pm

No, you're okay! That would be fun!! Maybe I could bring some video games or something like that to do for a bit!

Y/N> sent at 8:46pm

Yea, why not, and maybe we could get some food. What times?

You> sent at 8:46pm

Yea! Maybe order a pizza or get something in a drive-through! We didn't have many of those in Melrose! 

You> sent at 8:47pm

Oh, and probably around noon if that's all right!

Y/N> sent at 8:47pm

Yup, that works. Do you think tomorrow or the day after? I can do whichever .-.

You> sent at 8:49pm

I'm mostly available tomorrow, but we can work out the other bits later on.

Y/N> sent at 8:50pm

All right, I'll try to not ignore my phone this time <:

You> sent at 8:51pm

I'll do the same Y/N

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- I know this one was weird, but I'm trying something different, please don't kill me for not having Ballora. Even though this is a reader-insert, doesn't mean it has to follow a set of rules. Thanks for reading, see you next time.


	18. Cry Out

What was I thinking?

Why did I invite her to my house??

The moment I suggested this, I immediately wanted to rewind time to take this back.

She didn't seem to take this the wrong way, so I guess it's not too bad..?

You sigh in disbelief as you thought about the situation. You only had a day to prepare as well! Not to mention your sister's current attitude and the animatronics which you had embezzled from a children's entertainment facility. 

It had only been two days since taking them out of the underground torture chamber, and you did not understand how this whole thing hasn't appeared on any mainstream media yet. Not even a letter letting you know of your termination or a call from a private investigator to retrieve the animatronics.

Surely the security cameras would have caught the whole incident? In your rush to escape, you didn't think straight as all you wanted was to get them all out safely. 

Still holding your phone from chatting with Beatrice, you felt it vibrate and surprise you immediately. 

A text came in, not from Beatrice, but from another one of your female friends. You two had grown apart after things began to get awkward when you had caught feelings for her. She was the first girl-crush you had ever had, and you didn't think it was real at first; like most crushes, it was mostly just stuttering when certain topics arose or when certain accidental touches exchanged and you would get flustered when she didn't.

She slowly drifted away, and you two had only briefly chatted now and then over text. Although she was one who had helped convince you to take the job at the sister location. 

Reading the text, it was a slightly panicky message with an article attached to it.

Brea> sent at 9:15pm

Hey, Y/N, I just saw this on the news and I wanted to mention it. You know how I helped convince you to take that job at the rental place? So, I just saw that someone had apparently broken into the facility and cut power before the security cameras could fully catch whoever did it!!! They will supposedly be holding back investigations for some reason. I don't know why though.

You sat in mistrust as you finished reading the message. 

How are they not calling me? I was the last person to make the shift, and no one else was there... am I missing something..?

You weren't sure how to respond at first... You were too afraid that you would say something accidentally that would give any evidence leading to you.

Paranoia crept up your spine as you hoped that somehow she wasn't being set up, but you calmed your mind down from the cascade of anxiety-induced and absurd thoughts.

You shakily raised your thumbs to respond to her text and spent a few minutes combing through your response to make sure that it left no spots for her to question or probe too much.

You> sent at 9:23pm

Really? I hadn't heard anything yet, but I hadn't worked that night. Also, did they say if anything was stolen? Why would someone just break in and leave?

Sending that text, you wondered if that was a weird thing to ask - especially with the context.

Brea> sent at 9:27pm

No, they didn't say if anything was stolen. All that was in the article was that someone broke in, cut power, and then escaped. Apparently no one was working the night it happened but I thought that they needed a night guard each night?

You> sent at 9:30pm

I thought so too. Maybe they will release more information later on, but I will try to contact my manager.

You lied, but felt desperate to depart the conversation to save yourself from remembering all the embarrassing things that have happened between you two. She didn't respond after that text, to which you sighed out of relief.

Shit. Shit shit shit..!

Trudging back up the stairs and into your room, you shut the door behind you in dismay. You really didn't want mom to come back with this new guy and have them both getting angry at us for nothing.

Combing your fingers through your hair, you eyed the closet as it stood still. You gazed at it for a moment as your hand glided over the features of your face in partial self-consciousness.

Sliding your back against the wall, you sat on the cold floor and stared at nothing. Everything was so quiet apart from the ambiance of the house shifting and creaking in the dark night. 

Groaning dramatically to please your own sarcasm, you dragged yourself off the hardwood panels and heaved yourself onto your bed.   
Then suddenly, just as you tried to calm your mind, you heard several thumps running up the stairs... The basement stairs....

Jolting and out of pure adrenaline, you swung open the door and stared face-to-face with a terrified looking Foxy.

He jerked his head behind himself before scurrying into your room behind you. Confused, you peeked out of your bedroom doorway and saw none of the other robots staggering in the halls. However, you heard your sister's presence deviate from her room as you were sure that she had heard the ruckus.

"Y/N? What are doing up there?? What was that from the basement?!" she called loudly.

Panicking mentally, you gestured for them to stay as Foxy attempted to shove himself under your bed. Eyes widening in slight frustration as he caused another thud, you heard your sister sprinting up the stairs as she does with all her energy.

Practically jumping to your door, you opened it quickly and tried your best to not look rushed and overall frazzled.  
"Y/N! Did you hear that- that thud or whatever it was? It sounded like someone was running upstairs from the basement!" she cried, grabbing your shoulders and glancing behind herself before trying to peek into your dimly lit room. 

You nervously side-stepped, grasping at random subjects in your mind to change her focus as fast as possible.

"U-uh, maybe we should go check, um, around..?" you stuttered quietly as you trailed off- it becoming increasingly more obvious that you weren't being honest. 

She cocked her brow in a questioning manner, her sharp eyes glinting with inquisition. The robots were thankfully keeping quiet, but you didn't think they could hold it for long; not to mention Freddy and his erratic behavior.

You dreaded hearing his footsteps coming up the stairs but felt the haze around you fade when the sound of her friends following her distracted her inquiring.

Beads of sweat gathering on your temples, you tuned out their conversation and tried to brainstorm how you could get around them, if at all.

You couldn't let them go and investigate the basement without warning the bots.

But watching her peek over your shoulder in her inquisitive manner made you assume she already suspected something... So you could once again guess that she would go digging her nose in your business and maybe find Ballora and Foxy.

Oh- Foxy didn't even hide, my room is too small..! If Ballora's in the closet maybe he could- well my bed- no it's too low to the ground... I don't-

"Y/N! Hey, hey wake up!!" your sister clapped her hands in your face as you were off in your own mind.

"Wh-what? S-sorry I'm just really exhausted from the past few days," you responded, almost slurring your words from the intoxication of sleep.

Knowing that if she went into your room, everything would collapse and you would have a lot of explaining to do. If you led her into the basement, maybe you would have enough time to let the others hide.

Shutting your door behind you, she turned to her friends and you proposed investigating, hoping to divert their line of attention.

"I think we should go make sure no one else is around. I-I mean I definitely heard the footsteps and so did you all," you stated as they exchanged nervous glances as they waited for one to reply.

"Okay, but what if someone broke in? I don't think it'll be safe without a weapon o-or something..." one suggested, and you got a slight tremor in your spine.

You feared that having a weapon in front of the robots would frighten them - especially with several strangers they are not familiar with. 

Before you could respond, your sister had already started leading them down the stairs and into the kitchen. 

Turning to crack open your door, you saw Foxy peeking out from underneath your bed (As far as he could get under the mattress), and you just gestured for them to stay quiet. Foxy mimicked your expression, and you stifled a laugh before briefly wondering why Ballora hasn't come out yet.

Not pondering too hard over it, you just assumed that she was hiding as always and being quiet as usual. She already didn't come out much so you let the thought leave your mind and continued to follow the crowd through the dimly lit halls and down your creaky wooden staircase.

S/N was already filtering through a closet and came out with a baseball bat. You flinched slightly, and she beamed with her findings.

She held the bat at about an arms-length in your direction, and you quickly grasped the wooden object without a word between you. 

The atmosphere was obscenely still, and despite knowing what was in the basement, you continued to quiver. From the cold or from a strange fear, you weren't sure.

Your hearing remained sharp as you focused on the basement, listening for anything that could mean a danger of sorts. You had nothing to be afraid of, yet you felt the cold pit of dread for something that you didn't understand.

Descending the stairs, the fact that they were not following you became clear. Gritting your teeth, you couldn't decide whether to take that to your advantage.

It was very silent and gloomily lit, only the stairwell light sent out beams of illumination. You saw a glossy reflection glint off of something a light orange-reddish color.  
You heard a quiet giggle in your left ear and flinched away from its direction. Unsure of the source, you turned back to find the strange thing that mirrored the light to have disappeared.

Hearing the weighted metallic footsteps of an animatronic gave you a slight sense of relief. Circus Baby stalked towards you with her massive height and you couldn't help but feel you were under a magnifying glass. 

What was odd was the look in her eyes; it was akin to the bitter and blank expression of something caught purely in an act of instinct. There was nothing natural or humorous there anymore, and the strange lighting seemed to cast a dull and dingy shadow over her constant, joyous smile.

The blaring alarms echoed in your head, making you freeze in place as her mechanical innards churned and released a hiss of steam.

You stood stock still as her two, white stomach plates parted and the tangerine-colored center folded downwards; her upper torso contorted as her inner wiring exposed themselves and began to separate in different slices.  
To your own horror and dismay, a claw-like device extended from the back of her stomach and protracted until there was only mere inches between your waist and the dark, metallic apparatus.

Thoughts and questions plagued your mind in only a few seconds as her emerald eyes rolled into the back of her polished skull. The dark orbs that now contained no hint of sovereignty held a malicious glint.

"Did you not like my show?" her clean and calm voice cleaved through the heavy silence, but just above a whisper to where it barely whisked around you. This context made the matter evermore paralyzing.

A spike of energy suddenly blew into you and your muscles immediately took action; shoving her away from you with all of you might, throwing yourself off balance but scooping yourself back up when you heard calculated movement behind you.  
There was no time for questions, but they clawed into your mind as you made a break for the stairs.

Something solid and cool hit your side and swiftly interrupted your thinking and continued to confuse you by a shrill giggle being heard.

Crashing to the hard ground, you smashed the back of your head against the white molding near the stairs and felt something with a slight fervor trickling down through your hair. 

The hit gave you a strange tremor and hazed your vision.

The only thing that you felt at that moment was a considerable weight being pressed against your shoulder blades down to the middle of your back.

This made you involuntarily cry out, grunting after your vocal cords released this. She must have heard that... Is that good or bad?

A sudden discordant voice uttered above you; "Y-you can't le-leave the party until it-it's over~!"   
Thrashing under the cursed and bipolar bear, you questioned why they were doing this? What did you do wrong?? Where did he even come from, was he just watching?!

You suddenly began to fear for your sister, as with the two upstairs, the others could act out of character. Groaning at the thought, you didn't know what to do...

Cry out for your dear life in hopes for your sister and yourselves safety at the expense of the damned animatronics?

Or remain as you are hoping they will be okay, including your family and self?

You chose the latter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- Updates will be more spread out, but I will try to make these chapters longer like this one. I'm sorry that updates have been so sparse, but it is literally 3:03am right now, and it is on a school night where I have exams tomorrow. I really wanted to get this out for you all and I will try to be better at updating, but I've just been so busy.


	19. Who Is This?

"What's taking her so long?"

The friends looked among each other, each of them sitting at the kitchen table.

There was an obvious concentration in the atmosphere, but not something that made them feel thoughtful in the slightest. Each sat with a contorted expression in their visage.

They all silently conversed, but never made the move to the basement or to do anything. They sat and pondered what was happening and heard next to nothing. The chipped, white paint making the scene ever more uninviting as it stood just slightly ajar.

Until a muffled but sharp sound echoed through the wooden halls; a quick yelp followed by other strange sounds. Their eyes darted between the basement door and each other's optics, but they all sat inert from the initial shock of the tone breaking the silence.

When the jarring sound of the garage door opening sounded out, they all flinched from the drastic difference in noise.

Her parents were home, and they aren't allowed to be there.

All jumping up from the table, one went to go shut the partially opened door, S/N panicking especially when the jingling of her mother's keys could be heard.

The back door attached to the garage swung open, slamming into the wall next to it and making a small dent in the already abused drywall.

Stumbling in the doorway, her demeanor noticeably gave away to how inebriated she was. Along with her was a fairly built guy, and he was tipsy, but clearly not to her extent. 

He was around her height with maybe half an inch on her stature. He seemed to weigh much more than average but was not overweight in the least. His body was fit and reminded the young girls of popular male actors or celebrities that many of their friends would die to meet.

He was helping hold the woman as she seemed to mumble about some drama that none of them knew about, but he seemed to listen politely as she rambled.

It didn't take her too long to realize that there were far too many faces in the room with her for them all to be family or brought here by her own accord.

She inhaled deeply and dramatically before seeming to question her own eyes.

"Who- who are these people, S/N? Hmmm~ Who said you-you could have anyone over, huh?" she stuttered and slurred some words together, but her daughter understood her just well enough to have her stomach twist.

S/N shuddered, involuntarily taking a step backward as her mother and this strange man began advancing slowly. Her friends crowded around her and she felt as if she was on a stage in front of the world; always being watched and counted on.

"I-I thought that, well, since you weren't home for-for a bit that maybe I could..." she stopped, peering at her mother's slumped frame, held by this 90s teen drama jock-looking ass dude. Suddenly feeling a bit annoyed, she stood a bit taller and continued.

"I decided that, since you left us for almost two days (with nothing to show for it might I add), I could invite some friends over to hang out and-and just have fun. I'll make them leave mom, it doesn't matter anymore!!" she announced loudly, huffing off toward her room as the remaining duo of friends followed in suit.

Their surprise was at her sudden rise of temper despite the situation, but her mother's temper elevated with extreme fervor.

Drunkenly arguing with nobody, she tried to start a huge quarrel, but this new man easily calmed her. S/N already knew that any man to give her attention filled the crack in her heart left by their father, so she strained to not blame her for the horrid path in life she was choosing.

The passing of her father and alcoholic abuse with her mother led both sister's minds to adapt much faster than most. They had to mature as their beloved and caring mother careened down the barren dirt road of addiction. Filling the pain in her heart with hook-ups that only slowly picked at her ability to have empathy.

As the slurred yells quieted down and S/N's whirling thoughts settled, she could finally breathe.

"Who was that guy with your mom?"

"Why is she acting like this?"

"What's happening with Y/N"

She had mostly deflected their questions with vague answers and shrugs until they mentioned Y/N, and her eyes widened in fear.

Standing up from a jolt of energy, she immediately jerked her head to her door and placed her ear to it; Hearing muffled talk and movement from the kitchen and living room. Spinning back to the other two who seemed confused and ready to take action for something, she tried to explain the sudden explosion of internal panic.

"Y/N!! Oh-oh no, what if there was an actual robber or-or murderer in the basement and we just left her with them?! Oh, no no, what-what is.. what are we gonna..." she trailed off, and they worriedly tried to comfort her.

"I don't know- I mean, I don't think your mom is gonna let this slide. How are we gonna get past her?" one voiced but realized that reason was not too prevalent here. S/N fidgeted nervously as she stood by her door but seemed visibly conflicted.

Ashamed of her own pride and dignity, she set aside her sister's possible endangerment and remained in her room, hoping for tonight to end.

______________________________________

I sat still in the claustrophobia-inducing closet for hours; fiddling with my own circuitry and mulling over things that were not my business. 

The argument between sisters, tears over the lost father and a departing mother. Each briny drop that leaked from her eyes made my non-existent heartstrings twist in pain. 

Each sleepless night where I used the programming that engraved itself into my mind to lull her into rest. I could almost feel the squirming shocks of energy in her brain as she slept, the twinkling and melodic song that remains inside of me carries itself; deterring her crumbling dreams in where she remains in slumber.

I loathe my own gears and hardware; the cruel register that he burned into my motherboard plagues me.

I have taken to the closet more frequently, my traitorous bones and joints moving to her, gravitating to her, and latching onto her as the next target.

I can't let it win me over. I can't let it win me over. I can't let it win me over.

I can't hurt her.

Please...

She's the only one to listen.

...

What's wrong with me..?

I could never.

Me of all people?

..and I'm not even a person, am I?

*bzzt bzzzt*

..?

Phone...

Y/N's phone...

I remember parting the closet doors, peeking through with not a soul around.

Crawling to the rectangular device, it displayed a message from a 'Beatrice'.

Friend? Sister? Mother?

My already overwhelmed memory overloaded as I counted my options. Different branches of possibilities clouded my psyche.

Each line of code sent through my hard drive felt like grinding cogwheels. A kaleidoscope of red, blue, and green that split into my flawed optics.

They reeled, rendered almost blind like a film left out in the blinding illumination of the sun. This blue-green hue of color that my eyes struggled to comprehend.

The shields that cloaked them in darkness separated as my circuitry and desires commanded; a little box, only as big as my palm revealed itself. A message displayed on the face of this device, and I first saw her name.

I connected dots; each coincidence or situation that failed to analyze properly now pieced together.

Is she.. Is she in a relationship?

The strange conversations at night and her smiling as the messages notify her; she is in a relationship, isn't she?

My absent heart churned, but why? Why does it pain me at this time?

*rap tap tap*

"Y/N? What in Christ's name are you doing in there?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- Soooo, I said previously that I will take longer to release chapters but they will be longer. So I wanted to ask if anyone would be interested in any *cough* ⁿˢᶠʷ/ˢᵐᵘᵗ *cough*, just let me know in the comments.


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